100 Fijian Nurses Forced To Retire

Type: Union News Subject: International
29 May 2009

Almost 100 members of the Fiji Nurses Association (FNA) will have to retire following a State Services Decree stating that the mandatory retirement age for all civil servants is 55.

Forty nurses have already resigned since January this year and have migrated to work in hospitals in the Caribbean, Bermuda, Dubai, New Zealand and Australia, where no mandatory retirement age exists.

Most of those affected by the Decree hold senior nursing positions, and many rely on their income to support their families.

‘Our worry is that most of these nurses are heads of households, many are widows or single parents, and some have sick husbands to look after,’ said FNA General Secretary Kuini Lutua.

The FNA is also concerned about how the loss of senior nurses will adversely affect health care in Fiji, especially in relation to the training of younger staff.

The Fijian government says the retirements will have no affect on health care: ‘Most of the nurses who will be leaving are not the front line nurses but are of senior and supervisory positions, so services will not be affected at all,’ said Ministry of Health permanent secretary Doctor Salanieta Saketa.

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