Funding for hospital

ACCORDING to media reports, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Professor Biman Prasad has been able to clinch a funding deal of $10million with the Australia Government. The funding agreement has been signed and this is a huge achievement by the Coalition Government.

Prof Prasad and the Minister for Health and Medical Services Dr Atonio Lalavalavu need to be warmly congratulated. The Australian government deserves our hearty thanks for this urgent and timely support.

The CWM Hospital is the largest hospital in Fiji and is used as a training centre for nurses and doctors.

Currently it is in a state of neglect and disrepair. The hospital administration seems to have a lackadaisical attitude towards hospital administration.

As a result sub-standard services and traffic congestion is the norm of the day. Public frustration and anger is at its peak. Therefore, this Australian donation is a sweet music to the hospital clients. Dr Lalavalavu, the Minister for Health and Medical Services, has talked about a master plan to upgrade and transform the CWM Hospital into a fine and efficient institution to meet the needs of modern Fiji.

He talked about international best practices to be implemented at CWM Hospital. This is certainly very good news for all of us. The era of neglect, decadence and decay will be over.

Diabetes is an ever-increasing threat to the Fijian population. CWMH is grappling with this health threat.

To combat this we need modern state-of-the-art facilities at the National Diabetes Centre which will also cater for dialysis services.

The current NCDs is in a state of decay and leaves much to be desired. I certainly hope NDC will be a priority in the master upgrade plan.

On behalf of the Fijian people I wish to express our deep and sincere appreciation for the planned project and wish it every success.

DEWAN CHAND

Namadi Heights, Suva