Peceli Naviticoko 
The Nabouwalu Hospital in Vanua Levu
The Ministry of Health has clarified that they rely on service agreements when it comes to inoperative medical machines in all hospitals and health facilities.
Minister Dr. Atonio Lalabalavu made the comments in response to plans to address the service outages of medical machines in hospitals around Vanua Levu.
Dr. Lalabalavu added that the current global transition from analog to digital has affected the timely servicing of machines, as most software and parts are not readily available.
He says these machines require specialists and availability agreements for their servicing.
“It is a challenge as the ministry progresses from analog to more digital. We can expect some of the challenges there in terms of the software, the batteries, and so forth.”
Recently, hospitals in Savusavu, Nabouwalu, and Taveuni faced issues with X-ray and blood analyzer machines, and patients had to be directed to Labasa Hospital and private clinics.
Dr. Lalabalavu added that the ministry is working to ensure his biomedical team is capable of addressing the issues as they arise.
