Vanuatu health officials to find long-term funding solutions

Transcript

Funding shortfalls right across the public health sector in Vanuatu are making it hard for hospitals and clinics to deliver basic services.

The shortfalls are forcing the Ministry of Health to turn to overseas donors to prop up the day to day costs of running facilities.

But others are calling for health officials to look for long-term solutions and be smart about the resources they have.

Bridget Tunnicliffe reports:

The president of the National Council of Women, Blandine Boulekone, says lengthy hold-ups in waiting rooms is typical for those seeking medical treatment in Vanuatu. She says it's especially so for clinics in rural areas.

BLANDINE BOULEKONE: Sometimes they don't have enough medicine in stock and these kinds of things, and we are only talking about minimum of what we need, sometimes we have difficulty especially to have enough basic medicine."

Until recently some nurses had not been paid for more than a year and 20 nurses are still waiting for their contracts to be renewed. The keys for a new US$14.6m rehabilitation wing at Vila Central Hospital were handed over by the Japanese Ambassador recently, but it's not being used while the hospital figures out how it can staff the new facility. The hospital's medical superintendent, Dr Hensley Garae, says existing staff will most likely have to man it because they can't afford to hire new people. He says it's an ongoing dilemma in Vanuatu.

DR HENSLEY GARAE: It's been there for a long time, the budget of health is always there, there's a ceiling that they have put so it's not something new that we don't have enough money. It's the way we organise ourselves, and our assistance with our partners, that's something [who] we really need to talk to.

Dr Garae says the Minister of Health is turning to overseas donors, who already prop up the delivery of health services, to assist them in running the new wing. The Vanuatu Nurses Association says longer-term solutions need to be found to address the big gap in funding to meet the demand for human resources. The interim president Anne Pakoa says the Ministry of Health brought nurses over from Solomon Islands, who get paid more than local nurses, to help fill positions. Their contracts run out in December and Anne Pakoa says it would make more sense to train and recruit local nurses.

ANNE PAKOA: If the government can recruit in country, and not ask outsiders to come in and help, if we're talking about economic development it's best to invest in the country and get the resources that are actually produced here locally."

Blandine Boulekone from the National Council of Women says while they recognise the Ministry of Health isn't getting enough government funding, officials need to improve their management of funds. She believes the ministry could do a better job of prioritising where money needs to be spent.

BLANDINE BOULEKONE: Probably we could have less not necessary expenditure and we could have more money for the service, this is a big problem you know. Sometimes as women we are not happy because most of the time probably we would be managing the things better than they are doing you know."

Meanwhile Vanuatu's controversial acting director general for health, Dr Santus Wari, has been removed and replaced by Viran Tovu who has extensive experience in public health. Dr Wari sacked three key officials who took him to court and got their jobs back and he also suspended dozens of nurses who had complained about changes he was making.