Customer Service

Suva

In my recent visit to the Raiwaqa Dental Clinic in Suva, I was impressed with the high level of customer service displayed by the hard working dental staff.

Apart from this, the dental treatment I had received was even more impressive. The service was professional and efficient.

Perhaps one of the distinct features of this dental clinic is the abundance of information on oral health on display at the reception and within the clinic area.

The patients, waiting area have other important notices or reminders especially the information on the price or cost of all dental treatments.

This information on dental charges must be accessed by customers or patients and I am thankful to the thoughtful dental staff for positioning this information foremost for the public.

My big Vinaka Vakalevu and appreciation to the hardworking dental staff of Raiwaqa Dental Clinic for their excellent and friendly service. Keep this up and God Bless. with her mobility. She was brought to the Health Centre and a wheelchair was despatched to bring in the patient for examination in the Treatment Room.

The family members, who had accompanied the patient, were in a high level of panic and distress and wheeled the patient towards the treatment room but confronted a hazard in the form of the door obstruction.

The treatment room floor was slightly elevated and not in the level of the outside passage.

The patient in anxiety was repeatedly pushed inside, but the smaller front wheels of the wheelchair prevented that from happening.

They could finally get the wheelchair patient into the room by entering the room using the larger wheels to manoeuvre the door sill.

It was also noted that all the other rooms at the Valelevu Health Centre had no ramps leading into the rooms apart from the resuscitation room. I believe the said health centre was built in the eighties and did not cater for patients with disabilities.

The OHS Committee must look into the issue of improving the entry and the egress of the centre by building the door ramps and need to include disabled toilet cubicles also as there is none.

The men's toilet block is in a poor condition which has deteriorated over time with no maintenance and needs the Ministry's immediate attention. This sentimental issue was mentioned in the recent Parliament sitting this week where a Minister said the topic of disabled persons in Fiji and the initiatives put in place by the Government to assist them in their livelihood were hardly discussed in Fiji.

I believe it is an opportune time to make the hospital's user-friendly.

I refer to the conversation between Ratu Rala and a representative from the Consumer Council of Fiji on the discount of taxi fares on on Thursday around 11.33pm.

This was a replay of the midday recording.

The consumer representative told Ratu Rala that discount for the elderly on taxis is 50 per cent.

This is wrong the discount agreed between the Fiji Taxi Union and the Government is 20 per cent and not 50 per cent.

Could the Consumer Council issue a press statement correcting this mistake?

There is a difference between ethnicity and Nationality!

The newly sworn MP Mere Samisoni says the method of unilaterally choosing to fill vacancies in Parliament is not a democratic one.

She suggested that it is more democratic to have a by-election as this will provide a valuable snapshot of voter opinion between national polls. With all due respect to the MP, I believe the election rules have democratically been laid down and accepted by all before we have an election. The one-man, one-vote system is fair, because if 80 per cent of voters votes for a political party, then that political party will work out the 80 per cent of its candidates who will be Members of Parliament.

Because they laid out a game plan, the next candidate in line will move up to replace any of its party MP who dies, resigns, etc.

The FijiFirst Party is happy as is, but if SODELPA wants to have its own byelection, so that its own voters cast a vote to choose the next candidate to fill an MP vacancy, then feel free to do so. But do not expect the public to fund this unnecessary democratic exercise and have a good time trying to find out the voters who voted for SODELPA to vote!