As part of the Ministry of Health and Medical Service’s effort to improve the hospital services, a total of 39 locum appointments have been made to date.

This consists of 29 general practitioners and 10 specialists locum appointments, an initiative that is co-ordinated through leadership of the Minister for Health and Medical Services, Rosy Akbar.

As such the Ministry in partnership with Fiji College of General Practitioners (FCGP) has embarked on the locum appointments to maximise efficiency in health services through reducing the patient waiting time.

Based on the current arrangements, the general practitioners are paid a rate of $50 while specialists are paid $80.

Locum appointments are provided at the Colonial War Memorial (CWM) Hospital, Tamavua Twomey Hospital, St Giles, Lautoka Hospital, Labasa Hospital, Central Health Services, Makoi Health Centre, Samabula Health Centre, Lami Health Centre, Raiwaqa Health Centre and  Valelevu Health Centre.

Similar arrangements had been made for the health facilities in Western Division which includes Lautoka and Labasa Hospitals, Nadi, Sigatoka, Namaka and Ba.

CWM Hospital has recently received three locum doctors who have been providing their services as of September, last year.

The positive impacts of the locum appointments has led to significant improvements in the timely delivery of health services.

Not only does it reduce the workload of the doctors in hospitals, but it also gives them more time to focus on patient care and it has reduced the waiting time for patients and as such there is a reduction  in complaints on waiting hours.

Locum doctors are engaged in delivering services particularly in the following departments: (Accident and Emergency Units, Paediatric Unit, Anesthetic, Physician, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Eye Unit and Dermatology).

There is a criteria in place for locum appointment, applications are made through major and subdivisional hospitals and appointment is made on needs basis.

Doctors will need to submit their annual practitioners licence with the application forms and other documentations as advised.

Source: Ministry of Health and Medical Services

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