Praneeta Prakash 
[file photo]
With the review of the century-old Public Health Act 1935 underway, a health expert is urging the government to introduce significantly harsher penalties for public health infringements.
This is to ensure better compliance and reduce habitual violations.
During a stakeholder consultation led by the Health Ministry today, Public Health Consultant and Senior Lecturer at the University of Fiji, Samuela Korovou, highlighted the urgent need to revise existing penalties.
He says the current penalties are insufficient in the fight against public health risks.
He says stronger penalties are essential for curbing the rise of infectious diseases and other public health threats.
“We really need to increase the penalty. Otherwise there is no deterrent. It will be habitual infringement throughout. And $4, $2, $10, a packet of drugs is about $5. So there is no deterrent to break this public health infringement status. I mean, things that has been there, so it will become habitual in its nature.”
Acting Chief Health Inspector Luke Vonotabua acknowledged these concerns and confirms that this will be considered in the review process.
The general penalty is something that has been highlighted in a lot of places where we have gone through the consultation.
He also believes that outdated penalties undermine public health enforcement
Ten dollars fine is too small. And when we think about the efforts that the government is putting in terms of responding to the outbreak.
According to Korovou, Fiji has witnessed an alarming rise in vector-borne diseases, with dengue outbreaks now occurring annually instead of every decade.
The stakeholder consultation will continue tomorrow.
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