Health & Medical Services

SODELPA 2026 Health & Medical Services Manifesto

1. Universal Access & Equity

Establish a roadmap for Universal Health Care (UHC): ensure that basic health services (primary care, outpatient, maternal & child care) are accessible and free (or heavily subsidised) for all Fijians, including in remote islands and rural areas.
Strengthen rural and remote health-centres, nursing stations and mobile clinics so that distance is not a barrier to care.
Prioritise decentralisation: empower divisional and provincial health offices to respond to local needs, aligned with SODELPA’s emphasis on local/vanua communities.

2. Infrastructure & Specialist Care

Construct or upgrade regional hospitals: e.g., fulfil the commitment to build state-of-the-art 150-bed hospitals in Nadi and Nasinu.
Establish regional specialist units (cardiac, neurosurgery, oncology) in major Division centres (Western, Northern, Eastern) to reduce dependence on overseas referrals.
Invest in medical equipment, digital health records, tele-health systems (especially for remote islands) to link to specialists in Suva/Nadi.
Undertake a major review of hospital infrastructure: older facilities to be modernised for safety, capacity and disaster resilience (given Fiji’s climate risks).

3. Workforce & Capacity Building

Expand training for doctors, nurses and mid-level health workers, with incentives for specialists to remain in Fiji (and serve rural/outer-island areas) rather than leave overseas.
Develop partnerships with overseas training institutions, scholarships and return-service obligations for some specialist training.
Strengthen continuous professional development, in-service training, and local specialist mentorship programmes.
Improve working conditions (housing, allowances, transport for remote postings) to attract and retain staff in underserved areas.

4. Prevention, Non-Communicable Diseases & Community Health

Introduce a national screening programme for NCDs (diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease) with periodic village-based outreaches and school-based screening.
Launch a “Healthy Schools & Communities” initiative: ban sugar-sweetened beverages and unhealthy snack sales in schools; adopt healthy school-lunch policy.
Introduce tax/levy on sugar-based/ carbonated drinks to fund health promotion and NCD prevention.
Strengthen tobacco, alcohol control and physical-activity promotion, especially youth programmes and community wellness centres.
Integrate traditional/indigenous medicine and wellness practices into preventative health strategy, recognising cultural context and community participation.

5. Medicines, Procurement & Public/Private Mix

Review and strengthen the “free medicine” scheme to ensure availability, supply-chain integrity, and avoid stock-outs. (As previously flagged by SODELPA.)
Reform drug-procurement procedures to improve transparency, reduce wastage, achieve economies of scale.
Explore public–private partnerships (PPPs) for specialist services and building/upgrading facilities where appropriate, while maintaining public-service core.
Consider a feasibility study for a National Health Insurance (NHI) or risk-pooling scheme (as previously proposed) to support sustainability of health financing.

6. Maternal, Child & Family Health

Improve maternal and neonatal services: upgrade maternity units in regional hospitals and health centres; ensure skilled birth attendants reach remote communities.
Expand immunisation and child-health outreach programmes to outer islands and remote rural zones.
Promote family-health, early childhood development, nutrition programmes (especially for vulnerable communities).
Address mental-health and adolescent health services: increase access, community-based counselling, school-linked mental-health support.

7. Disaster & Climate Resilience, Health Security

Given Fiji’s exposure to climate change and natural disasters (cyclones, floods), strengthen health-system resilience: ensure hospitals and clinics are disaster-ready, maintain backup power, water supply, emergency transport.
Strengthen pandemic preparedness, biosecurity, diagnostic labs and surveillance (especially given global health risks).
Incorporate health-impact assessments into climate-adaptation planning (e.g., vector-borne diseases, coastal health risks, relocation health needs).

8. Governance, Accountability & Community Engagement

Establish performance indicators for the health sector (waiting times, mortality/morbidity metrics, rural access, specialist availability) and publish annual health-system “report card”.
Enhance community participation: create health-advisory committees at divisional/provincial level involving iTaukei/village leaders, women’s groups, youth wings.
Strengthen transparency in health-budgeting, procurement, avoid corruption or inefficiency, build public trust.
Ensure that health-policies are culturally grounded and inclusive of all communities (iTaukei, Indo-Fijian, Rotuman, island communities) aligning with SODELPA’s value of inclusivity.

Implementation Timeline & Financing

First 100 days: Launch national health-system review; commit to building/upgrading two regional hospitals (Nadi & Nasinu); initiate NCD screening pilot in 2 divisions; secure budget appropriation for medicine-supply reform.
2-4 years: Bring at least one regional specialist unit online; scale screening programme nationwide; modernise major hospital infrastructures; deploy tele-health network to rural/outer islands.
5 years: Move toward near-universal primary-health-care coverage; evaluate NHI/health-financing scheme; full integration of climate-risk/resilient health infrastructure; measurable reductions in NCD incidence and rural-access disparities.

Financing will be derived from: reallocating health-sector budget savings (through efficiency and procurement reform), introducing health-tax/levies (e.g., sugar-tax), exploring PPPs, applying for international donor/grant funds (for infrastructure/climate-resilience) and potential risk-pooling insurance contributions (if NHI advanced).

Key Targets & Metrics

Increase number of primary-health-care visits per 1,000 population in rural/outer-island communities by X% in 3 years.
Reduce average waiting time for specialist consults in regional hospitals by Y%.
Reduce prevalence/incidence of new diabetes/hypertension diagnoses or stabilize growth.
Ensure 90%+ of health centres in outer islands meet minimum infrastructure & staffing standards.
Maintain medicine-stock-out rate below Z%.
Achieve compliance with health-surveillance and disaster-resilience protocols in 100% of divisional hospitals.

Why this manifesto fits SODELPA

It aligns with SODELPA’s previously stated interest in health reform (NHI, medicine-scheme review, NCD screening)
It emphasises equitable access for all communities (urban, rural, remote) — consistent with the party’s inclusive-community values.
It integrates cultural and local/vanua aspects (traditional medicine, community engagement) which resonate with the party’s indigenous-rights focus.
It offers a realistic, phased plan for infrastructure & workforce improvement, addressing known bottlenecks in Fiji’s health system.