Australia Injects $14.7m into CWMH Facelift

The medical services offered by the Colonial War Memorial (CWM) Hospital in Suva are expected to become one of the best in the region in the near future, thanks to Australia’s assistance.

The regional neighbour announced its investment of $14.7 million yesterday for the CWM Hospital’s redevelopment master plan.

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, who is in Fiji for this week’s Pacific Islands Forum Foreign Affairs Meeting in Suva, made the announcement.

Ms Wong acknowledged the need for renovating CWM Hospital.

“Australia is investing $14.7 million to develop this master plan,” Ms Wong said.

The investment aims to establish a blueprint or master plan for the hospital, ensuring uninterrupted services and transforming the hospital into a state-of-the-art medical centre.

Australian-owned business, JohnStaff International Development (JID) is the leading consultant of the master plan which is expected to take between 12 to 14 months.

“The master plan that JohnStaff will develop and its partners will assist the future health needs of Fiji, its workforce and the infrastructure required for a high-quality national referral hospital,” Ms Wong said.

“If you walk through this hospital and when you talk to staff members, it’s clear that we can’t wait for the completion of that process.”

Australia has also committed to an urgent and detailed engineering assessment of the existing hospital building, practically ensuring that the hospital can continue to serve while the master plan is being developed and implemented.

“Australia is pleased to be able to deliver on this work and we are so honoured, we want to keep working with you to develop better services and more inclusive opportunities,” Ms Wong said.

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka commended the Australian government for its timely investment, emphasising the strong Vuvale partnership that Australia and Fiji embody.

“We are very grateful towards the Australian government for giving us money to be able to redevelop our hospital,” Mr Rabuka said.

The Minister for Health and Medical Services, Dr Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu said: “At last we’ve signed the agreement between the Australian government regarding the redevelopment of the master plan,” he said.

“We will now see how we can redevelop our hospital, in terms of the infrastructure assessment.

“With the current state of the hospital, the challenge is how you will provide the service as you want to do the repairs, the issue has always been space.

“It’s something the ministry will work strategically on and ensure that services go on and at the same time try to repair certain parts of the hospital.”

The winning tender chief executive officer Alison McKechnie said the redevelopment master plan would now be their priority, so Fijians were provided with high-quality healthcare.

“I acknowledge the Fijian Government for your commitment for this significant project,” Ms McKechnie said.

“A project that demonstrate the strong ties between the Fijian Government and Australia.

“The CWM Hospital Master Plan will provide a blueprint for transformational change in the future of healthcare in Fiji.”

Feedback: jone.salusalu@fijisun.com.fj