The Fijian government, led by Minister for Health Dr. Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu, is implementing several strategies to attract and retain healthcare professionals beyond the nursing workforce. These efforts follow a period of high resignations, particularly among nurses, which peaked in 2021. Now, the focus is on enhancing working conditions for medical officers, dental officers, laboratory scientists, and other healthcare roles.
To bolster workforce retention, the government has introduced a series of incentives such as increasing the retirement age, initiating consecutive pay rises over two years, re-engaging retired professionals, and providing training and capacity-building opportunities both domestically and internationally. Additionally, overseas attachments through partner agencies are part of these strategic efforts.
Dr. Lalabalavu noted that medical officers have a unique salary structure and are entitled to rural and remote allowances, while dental officers receive on-call allowances. Despite these efforts, challenges persist in recruiting specialists, as higher offers continue to lure graduates abroad. Moreover, the transition in training institutions from diploma to degree programs has influenced more graduates to become dental hygienists instead of dental therapists.
Addressing these challenges, a National Health Workforce Strategic Plan for 2024-2034 is being developed to strategically plan for human resource needs over the next decade. This plan will guide policies on career advancement, including the creation of managerial and director-level positions, which was urged by Opposition MP Alvick Maharaj, to enable younger allied health workers to progress into leadership roles.
In response to inquiries from Parliament, Dr. Lalabalavu clarified that overtime payments are indeed being made to medical laboratory scientists and any discrepancies will be resolved accordingly.
The government’s broader strategy is to create a skilled and motivated workforce capable of delivering high-quality healthcare services. Enhanced career development pathways and incentivizing specialized roles within the healthcare sector are pivotal to these efforts, as outlined in a series of discussions with the Fiji Medical Association and other stakeholders.