Sam Fullman

The Ministry of Health had to work with the national airline and Air New Zealand to receive passenger manifests for those being repatriated to Fiji.

Head of Border Health Protection Unit, Sam Fullman says this was done to ensure the government paid the hotel accommodation bills only for Fiji citizens who were returning home.

Fullman says the manifests had to be cross checked with the hotels as dual citizenship holders were also entering Fiji.

He adds they uses a two-tiered approach, and were able to reconcile the expenditure with all the people who were inbound.

“All those who could not use that or had an expired Fijian passport were asked to settle the bill themselves. This process was on the first level, made possible because we had quarantine officers designated at all facilities where we were doing repatriations to.”

Fullman adds the Ministry developed protocols and trained individuals as community facilities were not ready at the time of the outbreak and would have cost more.

“The hotels were already prepped and all they needed was constant guidance on infection prevention control measures and how to run quarantine, which was reinforced by the whole of government approach.”

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says they are still trying to reconcile the number of tablets or electronic devices used during the vaccination campaigns.

He adds it is not easy to put everything into the inventory list and numerous internal audits are underway.