The Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation should have been an integral part of the food distribution during the lockdown in the Suva-Nausori corridor.
Former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka said people should have been given ample time to stock up basic family necessities for food and medicine.
He said the ministry should have the data on vulnerable in society and should be an integral part of the aid packages logistics.
He said Government could have co-operated with local supermarkets and deployed mobile sale caravans to keep essential goods available during enforced, surprise and unplanned curfews.
He said the lockdown was the result of a very quickly and poorly thought health operation to try and check the self-inflicted wave of the Indian variant of the COVID-19 virus.
Meanwhile, questions sent to the ministry officials, Joeli Vueti and Richard Nath remained unanswered when this edition went to press.
During a news conference, Health Ministry permanent secretary said they would work with NGOs and other government ministries in the future.
