Praneeta Prakash 
[Source: Ministry of Health & Medical Services - Fiji/ Facebook]
The current Public Private Partnership program for general practitioners have not yielded the desired outcomes says Health Minister Doctor Atonio Lalabalavu.
He highlighted this at the Fiji College of General Practitioners Awards Night over the weekend.
Dr Lalabalavu says the overspending and inadequate health outcomes have become apparent while outpatient numbers in public health facilities have largely remained the same.
[Source: Ministry of Health & Medical Services – Fiji/ Facebook]
Therefore, he says it has become necessary to review the existing arrangement.
The Minister says the government has initiated a review of the PPP operations, processes and arrangements and is looking at opportunities to facilitate a more controlled evolution of this program.
The review is spearheaded by the Ministry of Finance, with support from the Ministry of Health and Medical Services.
Doctor Lalabalavu says they are anticipating the engagement and input of Fiji College of General Practitioners on how to further improve this partnership nationwide.
[Source: Ministry of Health & Medical Services – Fiji/ Facebook]
He adds that closer look at similar models that have been successful in countries such as Hong Kong can inform their review discussions on how they can effectively address Fiji’s health challenges including the NCD burden.
The Minister says innovative ideas such as a system where GPs will care for a fixed number of clients through a public to private referral process with a fixed consultation pricing rate for NCD and OPD care can be considered.
He says the review will also consider how government’s investment could be measured through an audit framework with specific health outcome.
