THE Ministry of Health must be held accountable for delivering Fiji’s new National Health Strategic Plan by regularly reporting on its progress, finances and outcomes, says immediate past president of the Fiji Medical Association, Dr Alipate Vakamocea.
Asked on what single change was needed to deliver the strategic plan and who should be responsible, Dr Vakamocea said its success would depend on the ministry showing the public what had been implemented, how funds were used and which targets were not met.
“We need to make sure that we are able to produce these annual reports on a regular basis so that the people of Fiji can look at those reports and be able to hold the Ministry of Health accountable if it is actually delivered on the plan or not,” he said.
FMA acting president Dr Ronal Kumar also called for all health professionals, including Fiji’s 1195 doctors, to be involved from the beginning of the strategic planning process rather than being invited only to the launch.
“FMA’s stance should be more about us being involved when you are doing a strategic plan, not what we have already written in term,” he said.
Dr Vakamocea said the evaluation process had highlighted a major weakness – the lack of regular reporting, saying proper reporting was necessary to assess the plan’s progress and inform the development of future strategic plans.
“If you want to know how a plan has been executed, you need the reports.
We didn’t have the annual reports.”
