MONDAY 03 March 2025 – The Government had an unprecedented discussion with the country’s top medical people and policy makers as of Friday 28th of February 2025 at Warwick Hotel in Port Vila.
The briefing took place at Warwick Hotel and saw Prime Minister Jotham Napat and his deputy Johnny Koanapo join Health Minister John Still Tari where they actively listened through a three-hour briefing to try and better understand the state of affairs of the country’s health systems.
Due to time limitation the briefing focused specifically on the operations at the Vila Central Hospital where the biggest bulk of Vanuatu’s health professionals are based.
It was alarming in many areas of the medical field that Vanuatu still lags behind in its manpower capacity needs and there is an overwhelming need to do more in order to maintain health systems at decent levels. For this Prime Minister Napat gave directions for immediate attention to ensure Vanuatu continues to develop its key human resources and meet growing demands. It was noted that more should be done through the country’s education system to improve student performances especially in areas of science so that they can obtain minimum GPA requirements for entry into medical fields.
The briefing was about the challenges, but more so about finding the best solutions and approaches to tackling issues hampering our health services.
Prime Minister Napat says one of the best options would seem to be to create a separate commission, like all other commissions, so that it can adequately and efficiently address health issues.
Amongst so many great ideas discussed were recommendations to revisit existing laws, such as the health practitioners Act, as well as working on models of Private Public Partnerships that makes the best use of resources and facilities already available in-country.
“It is the first time for a prime minister (let alone a deputy prime minister) to take an active interest in the work that the doctors and nurses do,” remarked Dr. Sale Tamata Vurobaravu, who is also the President of the Medical Doctors Association.