Health Ministry permanent secretary Dr James Fong says he agrees with nephrologist specialist Dr Amrish Krishnan on the urgent need to address nurse migration because it is leading to critical shortages in Fiji.
In a post on Twitter last week, Dr Krishnan said if the nurse migration crisis was not immediately addressed, many nurse-led programs could collapse in the near future.
He said there were about 20 dialysis nurses in Fiji and this was “a terrifying situation” for persons diagnosed with kidney failure.
Responding to queries from The Fiji Times yesterday, Dr Fong said he agreed with Dr Krishnan.
“We are working with relevant parties on making a planned response which included retention,” he said.
In a previous report, Health Minister Dr Atonio Lalabalavu said he understood the challenges and problems nurses had been facing in the past.
He said countries in the region and around the world had been the recipient and benefactor of Fiji’s well trained, experienced and capable health workforce and civil servants.
“Talk to any international expert in human resource for health and they will inform you that retiring employees early is not the strategy for staff shortage in health,” Dr Lalabalavu said during the Fiji Nursing Association’s 64th AGM last Saturday.
“In fact, the opposite is true you keep them longer while you build up the new intakes’ capabilities and skills.”