Investing in human capital is important for development in Fiji, says Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum made this statement while speaking at the 2016 Fiji Medical Association Awards Night at the Pearl Resort in Deuba last night.

He was referring to investing in training people to help Fiji, particular in the medical profession.

“It is very critical that human capital investment takes place in all countries,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

“We must always invest in our people and that is the premise of why we had discussions with your team and that is why we have agreed to the changes because we believe that there are many challenges within the provision of medical services in Fiji and whilst we may buy MIR machines and scanners, etc, we cannot buy people. We can only invest in people, encourage people to take up the medical profession.”

He said the Government had introduced the topper scholarships which had increased from 600 to 630 after the Budget announcement this year.

He said that there was a huge focus on science including medical science and nursing, as well as on land surveyors, forest managers and marine scientists because there was a shortage of people in that area within the country.

“It is critical for us as a nation and critical for Government to be able to look after all of you, to ensure that you are able to carry out your work well, feel rewarded for it and when you sleep at night you don’t feel exploited,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

He said they wanted medical practitioners to specialise in various areas that currently did not have the level of specialisation required.

He also acknowledged the work local medical practitioners are currently doing. He also talked about the issue of complaints made against doctors.

“I know some of you have worked really hard, sometimes at ridiculous salary rates even the long hours you do work,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

“We have set aside a quarter million dollars in the Budget to put in place a  complaint mechanism in the medical field, the  public health sector and we soon will be rolling that out. We will soon discuss with FMA and the general practitioners association about what is the best way of doing so.

He said he received a call from Ba that a family said they were not allowed to see their sick father during visiting hours.

“At the moment there is no proper accountability in terms of how we track the type of complaints we get, the resolutions of the complaint and whether the customer, patients’ family is actually feeling satisfied about services.

“Similarly we get complaints about nurses. We have set up process that everybody will understand. We will put out brochures and 24 hours call lines that are free where you can make and lodge complaints, and then we get a resolution,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

He also asked members of the private and public health sector to work together, saying that there is a lot of synergy derived when the doctors work together.

Edited by Jonathan Bryce

Feedback:  arieta.vakasukawaqa@fijisun.com.fj