The Fiji Medical Association has raised alarm over the increasing shortage of essential medicines and critical supplies in public hospitals. Dr. Alipate Vakamocea, the Association’s president, has urged the government to take swift action on the matter, emphasizing the acute lack of reagents needed for full blood count tests. This shortage presents significant challenges for health professionals in accurately diagnosing and monitoring patients.
Dr. Vakamocea highlighted that complete blood counts are crucial for routine health checks and for monitoring conditions that can impact blood cell counts, such as infections and anemia. The ongoing supply problems are attributed in part to inefficiencies within the Fiji Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Services (FPBS), which also oversees the provision of critical medications and biomedical equipment.
Medical superintendent of CWM Hospital, Dr. Luke Nasedra, confirmed that the laboratory is facing reagent shortages due to procurement delays at FPBS. To address this, his team is collaborating with FPBS to ensure that the issue is not an internal supply chain problem. Meanwhile, measures have been initiated to send tests to other ministry laboratories and private facilities that comply with quality assurance standards to minimize disruption to patient care.
Despite these challenges, Dr. Nasedra assured that there are alternative processes in place to manage the situation effectively and communicated with other facilities about the adjustments in testing procedures. However, it’s important to note that these shortages may lead to delays in patient management as the hospital runs low on essential supplies.
This situation highlights the urgent need for reform within the procurement processes to ensure that healthcare providers are adequately equipped to deliver quality care. While shortages can pose significant obstacles, proactive measures being taken by the staff may mitigate some of the impacts on patient services.
In the long run, addressing these systemic issues could lead to improvements in healthcare delivery, ensuring that such shortages are less frequent in the future. It is a call to action that, if heeded, could strengthen the healthcare system in Fiji and enhance patient outcomes.
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