THE rescue of six health workers from Lau waters has highlighted the need to support not only health infrastructure but also the people and systems delivering medical services.
Speaking on The Fiji Times online portal The Lens@177, Australian High Commissioner to Fiji Peter Roberts said the incident underscored the dedication of health workers serving communities, particularly in remote areas.
He said while Australia was working with the Fijian Government to support future health infrastructure, including planning for the redevelopment of the Colonial War Memorial Hospital, effective health services depended on more than buildings.
“At this stage, we’ve supported work on what’s called the clinical services plan,” he said.
“So we have an assessment of what’s actually needed and then on the master plan for what comes after CWM.”
Mr Roberts said the Fijian Government was considering the next steps and Australia remained interested in supporting the project.
“It’s a big project, so I think you’ll probably have lots of people working with you on CWM, but it’s really important.”
“We’ll work on the infrastructure, but we’ll also work with the ministry to support the wraparound of all that.”
He described the rescue of the Lau health workers as “fantastic”, saying it highlighted the importance of frontline workers alongside infrastructure investment.
Mr Roberts said Australia remained keen to support the CWMH project as discussions progressed, noting a development of that scale would require multiple partners
