SOME nurses working extra hours have not been paid since January as the health system grapples with burnout and staff shortages.
The issue was raised by Fiji Medical Association president Dr Ronald Kumar in an interview with this newspaper.
Dr Kumar said it highlighted the growing pressure on frontline healthcare workers, particularly nurses, who continue to work long hours to keep essential services running.
“I feel so much more for our nursing colleagues who are needing to work over extra hours, and some of them are not being compensated for, at least some of them not compensated for since January this year,” he said.
He said burnout remained an ongoing issue within the health system and was unlikely to ease because of the 24-hour nature of medical services.
“In healthcare, it’s always going to be a problem for a service that runs 24 hours.”
Dr Kumar said staffing shortages and rising workloads had intensified pressure on workers already stretched thin, forcing many to take on additional responsibilities.
He said the Fiji Medical Association was exploring ways to reduce burnout, but difficult decisions might be needed to protect both staff and patients.
“We’ve started to line up a few mitigating issues, which eventually, when it comes to crunch time, will need to come at the cost of a few things.
“We need to ensure that we are able to look after patients, give them quality care rather than burning our staff down.”
He warned that if workforce shortages persisted, health authorities might have to scale back some services to maintain safe standards of care.
“That might mean cutting back in services, which is a difficult thing to do on the best of days, but it’s a challenge that we will have to face as we go.”
Dr Kumar called for stronger public-private partnerships, saying private providers could help ease pressure on the public health system.
Health Minister Dr Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu said the ministry was seeking additional funding in the upcoming national budget to cover staff overtime and allowances.
Dr Lalabalavu said one of the ministry’s priorities was ensuring health workers were paid for extra hours worked.
“The main priority right now is to ensure that remunerations are fully covered, especially overtime and allowances,” he said.
He said delays in overtime payments could affect the working environment and disrupt services.
“We have seen that when overtime is not covered or is not properly budgeted for, it tends to create disruptions in the working environment.”
Dr Lalabalavu said while the ministry had other priorities, ensuring staff were properly paid remained critical.
He said adequate funding would help the ministry continue delivering services without unnecessary disruptions.
The National Budget will be announced on June 26.
