Government together with the Ministry of Health is committed in upgrading training of nurses to better service delivery in the area of mortality, says Minister for Health Dr Neil Sharma.
Speaking at the launching of the Post Graduate Diploma in Midwifery at the Fiji School of Nursing this morning, Minister Sharma said much needs to be undertaken in the next five years for Fiji inorder to reduce mortality by 75 per cent in 2015 as part of the Millennium Development Goals adopted in 2000.
The commitment by the Ministry of Health is part of Pillar 10 of the Peoples Charter for Change, Peace and Progress which will see the new Health Administration consolidate specific measures in the area of Nursing and Midwifery with the aim of reducing maternal mortality dramatically in 2010.
With certain proposals in place to franchise midwifery courses to the Nursing school in the North to additionally raise the skill base of Midwifes in Fiji with increased class sizes at Lautoka, Suva and Labasa, Minister Sharma added the Fiji School of Nursing will start continuing nurse education programs that will form the basis of annual certification and licensing.
“Additionally there are measures to regionalize the delivery of maternal care into services based out of our three divisional under the supervision of the team specialist Doctors and Nurses.
“Daily consultations, regular staff rotation including Doctors in training will result in better outcomes from the area and sub divisional healthcare providers,” Minister Sharma added.
Additionally, the launched of the Fiji Chapter of the White Ribbon program last week cannot over emphasize the need for advocacy in the community and to raise the general information, understanding of the common citizens on health matters.
While 2010-2015 remains a challenge to efficiently reduce mortality statistics and improve service delivery, realistically, with a content and stable workforce, better technology and infrastructure , the Health Ministry will be better positioned to achieve its goal that will make headway into raising health delivery standards and meet the challenges of MDG 4 and 5 by 2015.