Dr Neil Sharma the former Minister for Health and now a back bencher in the newly elected government shared the challenges and progress he made while at the helm of one of the more critical ministries.
In his maiden speech, Dr. Sharma says his work was guided by the than People’s charter for change, peace & progress.
_"In line with the pillar ten of the people charter for change, the health policy technical support group was established; the disparity between community and health care’s deliver system was reduced to a certain extent. And the linkage of equity base customer demand based health delivery was accentuated."
Dr Sharma says the need for a health policy planning and budget analysis unit with an in-built monitoring and evaluation unit did not take place without resistance.
Adding that implementing the policy on the decentralisation of outpatient and mental health services was difficult but the outcome has seen better accessibility for Fijians.
He concluded his address reiterating that even though establishing the recipe for the right resources in health can be painstakingly slow, it is work in progress and that that is successor will now carry forward.
Parliament resumes on the 21st of November when the national budget will be announced.
