1. MINISTRY TO CONDUCT PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS – The Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources will be conducting public consultations on the review of State land and Rental assessment. The one week public consultations will be held in the Central, Western and Northern division from next week.
2. NAUSORI HOSPITAL SERVICES IMPROVE – Health services at the Nausori hospital have improved following issues addressed by the hospital administration that were raised during the public health consultation. The Assistant Minister for Health and Medical Services Mrs Veena Bhatnagar highlighted this as she made a follow up visit to the hospital this week.
1. MINISTRY TO CONDUCT PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS
The Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources will be conducting public consultations on the review of State land and Rental assessment.
The one week public consultations will be held in the Central, Western and Northern division from next week.
Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources Hon. Mereseini Vuniwaqa is encouraging members of the public to attend these public consultations.
“Discussions will include the immediate re-assessment of Rental for all State leases where there has been no reassessment for more than 5 years and allowing the open market rent on ground rental instead of the 6 percent of unimproved capital value maximum,” Minister Vuniwaqa said.
“Teams from the ministry will be engaged in these consultations and will be there to assist with issues on the above subject.”
Minister Vuniwaqa also added one of the mandates for Government is to make land available for productive activity which is critical to national development.
2. NAUSORI HOSPITAL IMPROVE SERVICES
Health services at the Nausori hospital have improved following issues addressed by the hospital administration that were raised during the public health consultation.
The Assistant Minister for Health and Medical Services Mrs Veena Bhatnagar highlighted this as she made a follow up visit to the hospital this week.
The public consultations were held amid numerous complaints from the public regarding the provision of services at the hospital.
Mrs Bhatnagar met the hospital officials yesterday and was advised that the issues which were raised by the public have been addressed.
Some of them were of personal in nature, while other issues which needed urgent attention were:
– Hospital toilet facilities. It has been established that as the bus station and the market have been relocated there has been very minimal usage of the toilet facilities by the public, thus the cleanliness of the toilets is better.
– The issuing of patient numbers will increase once the hospital gets more doctors next year, in accordance with preexisting Ministry plans.
– The availability of medicine at the pharmacy. The pharmacists have been asked to ensure that stocks are readily available. However, some patients mistakenly believe that all prescribed medicines are in the free medicine list, which is incorrect. The list of medicines available on the free medicine program has been displayed for public information.
Mrs. Bhatnagar has reminded the staff that while they are doing their best, a little more care towards the patients will solve many grievances and people will appreciate the services.
“I know you are doing your best but may I ask you to put in a little extra effort to help the patients who seek your attention at their worst hour”, said Mrs Bhatnagar.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry continues to remain committed to providing the best healthcare services to the people and will ensure that customer service is the priority of all health facilities.