Government to announce major plans for CWMH

GOVERNMENT is expected to announce major plans involving the Colonial War Memorial (CWM) Hospital, alongside the Australian Government on Friday.

Minister of Finance Professor Biman Prasad said they were aware of the mounting frustration from members of the public who demand for better healthcare facilities.

“CWM had a lot of issues and some of the problems that are there is a result of neglect for many years,” he said.

“There is no issue about funding to upgrade. Some things have taken a bit longer than we thought. For example, fixing the lifts and all that.

“I’m told from the Ministry of Health that all the processes are complete, the lifts will be fixed soon, the operating theatres, something that we pursued for eight years in Parliament. Not much was done.”

When asked about the time it was taking to turn things around, Prof Prasad said, “There is some truth in some areas that the work could be done faster. But we also want to make sure that all our processes are followed”.

“We in the Ministry of Finance pay particular attention to the processes and the procurement rules and regulations. But, yes, things could be done faster than what is being done in some parts of the government, in some ministries.

“The Government and ministers are all geared to making sure that we can improve the services to our people. It’s just been a little over a year.

“We know that people’s expectations are huge. But we can’t just do miracles on everything that we inherited, but things will improve.”

Prof Prasad also thanked Good Samaritans in the community who banded together to improve the hospital’s infrastructure.

“We want to thank Judy (Compain) and IWA (International Women’s Association) for doing whatever they are doing now, and we support that.

“On Friday, we will be making some announcements with the support of the Australian Government about CWM.”

We know that people’s expectations are huge. But we can’t just do miracles on everything that we inherited, but things will improve

– Minister of Finance Professor Biman Prasad