‘Fiji has enough qualified doctors’

Listen to this article:

TELS board officer Jone Waisale (right) attends to a long queue of students with their applications to be processed at the TSLB office in Suva. Picture: FILE/JOVESA NAISUA/FILE

It is important for Fijians to note that Tertiary Scholarship and Loans Board (TSLB) has a fiscal responsibility towards the country’s taxpayers which is to ensure that the taxpayer’s money is invested in areas that yield a positive return for the country, says TSLB chairman Rakesh Ram.

He made this comment after the TSLB suspended loans and scholarships for MBBS, Oral Health, and Oral Health and Dental Surgery programs.

“By suspending funding for these programs, TSLB is ensuring that the labour demand and supply market remains at or near equilibrium levels to avoid surplus or shortages, both of which are detrimental for the long-term prosperity of the economy,” he said.

He said Fiji currently had enough trained and qualified doctors to meet the World Health Organization benchmark.

“It is important to note that apart from around 1000 graduate doctors now in Fiji as at the end of 2020, over 100 new TSLB funded graduates will be joining the profession from 2021 to 2025 annually. This is in addition to the privately funded students joining the services.

“By 2025, this benchmark would have been exceeded as there are currently 689 active students under NTS and TELS pursuing a qualification in MBBS who are expected to graduate and join the medical profession by 2025.”

Mr Ram urged students to explore other priority areas within the scholarship categories.

“In addition to the medical and health category, students can also pursue alternative qualifications such as engineering, teacher training, technology and town and land planning under NTS or TELS provided they meet the qualifying criteria.

“The funding has not been terminated and the Fijian Government will be reviewing this next year in consultation with the relevant stakeholders to determine when and if they would resume.”

Array
(
    [post_type] => post
    [post_status] => publish
    [orderby] => date
    [order] => DESC
    [update_post_term_cache] => 
    [update_post_meta_cache] => 
    [cache_results] => 
    [category__in] => 1
    [posts_per_page] => 4
    [offset] => 0
    [no_found_rows] => 1
    [date_query] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [after] => Array
                        (
                            [year] => 2023
                            [month] => 12
                            [day] => 28
                        )

                    [inclusive] => 1
                )

        )

)

No Posts found for specific category