Calls have been made to authorities to con­sider reopening the old Navua Health Centre as a proactive measure to handle the increasing num­ber of positive COVID-19 cases in the Serua and Na­mosi province.

Serua and Namosi advi­sory council chairman, Ka­mal Narayan with the sup­port of other area advisory councillors, in an email re­quested the Ministry of Health officials, to consider reopening the old Navua Health Centre, which has been left ideal for quite a while.

“We proposed for a tem­porary relocation of the Health Centre and outpa­tient department to the old Navua Health Center and we hope this will help in reducing the risk of spread­ing of COVID-19 cases in Se­rua and Namosi Province,” Mr Narayan said.

He said the people of Se­rua and Namosi appreci­ated health and all frontline workers for their tireless ef­fort in keeping Fijians safe from this deadly pandemic.

He said the old hospital is located at a central location and communities would easily access it.

This would allow authori­ties to utilise the facility of the new Navua hospital as quarantine or isolation fa­cilities away from the popu­lated locality.

“We also proposed to as­sist medical authorities in preparing the old facility for reuse with help from the business community in Na­vua,” Mr Narayan added.

He said they have man­aged to secure assistance for major hardware outlets in Navua and have already started with cleaning the Health centre compound with help of donors and volunteers.

A former Fiji Military Forces officer and Nakaule­vu Navua resident Ratu Iferemi Buaserau said, he was happy to provide as­sistance and machinery to cut the overgrown grass at the old health centre site and also share his National Command Center work ex­perience in setting up of the temporary facility.