Fiji’s health sector budget is now only 0.5 percent short of the World Health Organisation’s international standard of 4.5 percent of the national budget.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad highlighted this during a debate on the Health Ministry’s consolidated review of it 2016-2021 Annual Reports in Parliament this week.

He said the only criticism by Opposition MP Premila Kumar that made sense was about budget utilization.

“Yes, there is an issue. Our budget now is about 4 percent of GDP. The WHO’s standard is about 4.5. We have moved away from the low budget that we had before to about percent of GDP, 0.5 short of the WHO international requirement of 4.5 percent which comes to about $580 million and includes the payment that the Government makes to the PPP (public-private partnership),” he said.

“This Government has been very honest. We have not denied any time that there are problems and that is why this Government called for a review of the total health sector. What the Report shows, they should read the Report. What it shows very clearly is that in the last, almost 15 years to 20 years, our health outcomes of an upper middle-income country, our health outcomes is equivalent to a low-income country.”

Professor Prasad said combined with the report and $650 million support from the World Bank and partners, the Coalition Government will embark on a project where phases 1 and 2 will deal with non-communicable diseases and primary health care.

“In economic terms, it is a no-brainer because if we spend more money in the public health sector, we stop more people from coming up, ending up in hospitals. Economically, it makes sense, health-wise it makes sense, it improves productivity, it makes things better for everyone, not in terms of only health outcomes, but for the economy.”