Government Boosts Health Sector with $540M Allocation
“Effective from August 1, the national minimum wage will be increased to $4.50 an hour with a further increase to $5 an hour effective from April 1, 2025,” he said.
Saturday 29 June 2024 | 18:44
CWM Hospital’s Children’s Ward. A significant portion of budget will be allocated towards the ministry’s operation and administration. Photo: Ronald Kumar
The Ministry of Health has been allocated $540m with $450million going into the ministry operation and administration and $90million for the operations of the Lautoka and Ba Aspen Hospitals.
This is an increase of close to $100m compared to last year’s allocation.
Minister for Finance Biman Prasad said given the years of neglect and state of affairs in Fiji’s health sector, Government needed to continuously increase investment and focus in the health sector.
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“This will take time, but we are making progress. I thank our medical professionals for their commitment and drive to get things fixed. We are ready to put in more resources and our development partners have assured their highest support towards this journey,” Mr Prasad said in his National Budget Address on Friday.
“In partnership with the Australian government, we have embarked on a major technical work to put together a master plan for the redevelopment or relocation of CWM,” he said.
“The long-term goal is the construction of a state-of-the-art national referral hospital which is modern, resilient, and patient-centered.”
Diplomatic assistance
In March, the Australian government provided around $15 million towards the CWM infrastructure master planning and the ministry is in discussion with its multilateral partners such as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank for future funding options, he said.
The Indian government has contributed a grant towards construction and running of a 100-bed Super Specialty Hospital in Suva.
“We have made good progress in identifying the land in Nasinu behind the Fiji National University and the construction design works and other preliminary works are currently underway.
“We have also seen major investments in some of our private medical facilities including the Pacific Specialist Health Care, Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Hospital, for which we are again providing a Government contribution of $4 million in this budget, and many other
providers who are expanding and modernizing their services.
“A good mix of private and public sector health provision is critical to help us to improve health service delivery.”
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