Shania Shayal Prasad 
Medical negligence including wrong medication being administered, incorrect doses for children and misdiagnoses occur almost every day in our healthcare system but only a few are ever reported or made public.
This is the concern raised by Fiji Nursing Association President Dr Alisi Vudiniabola, who says these forms of negligence can have serious consequences on patients’ health.
She points out that while these issues are often discussed privately by concerned families and friends, they rarely make it to the relevant officials or the media.
“Because half of the time, we commit mistakes, we do things wrongly, we growl at our patients, we tell them off, and so forth. Nobody bothers. Even if they’re given the wrong injections or wrong treatment, people hardly complain. And that needs to change.”
Dr Vudiniabola stresses the importance of effectively addressing this issue.
“We hardly talk about patients who are given the wrong drugs, children who are given wrong doses, and so forth. Patients who are seen and diagnosed incorrectly, and so forth. Those are all forms of negligence.”
In response, the Health Ministry’s Acting Chief Medical Advisor, Dr Luisa Cikamatana says they address issues once they are flagged to the Ministry.
“Verify, sometimes it’s just lack of communication and it’s communication supplies may be there but not somewhere so for every complaint we take that seriously and we have a system of addressing that.”
She adds the Ministry is focused on prioritizing quality and improvement to ensure better healthcare outcomes for all Fijians.
