Health chief claims reports misleading, statements quoted out of context

Dear Editor,

Response to Articles dated 24th May 2018 titled “Inquiry told of health woes” and 25th May 2018 titled “Dealing with a sick health system

I write to correct the following statements made in your paper.

“There was no consultation between the National Health Services and Ministry for Health prior to submitting the merge proposal to Cabinet for their review. That is what the Director General of the Ministry of Health, Leausa Dr Take Naseri told the Commission of Inquiry appointed by Cabinet...”

He was further asked whether other stakeholders were consulted, Leausa said no.

Taulapapa put it to Leausa that it would’ve been helpful for a consultation, but in response Leausa said: “the obvious body language by the parties is why there was no consultation.”

Furthermore in the editorial, your paper again further reiterates the above untrue statements stating:

“For instance, after all the years of talks about the re-merge between National Health Services and Ministry of health, there was absolutely no consultation between the bodies prior to when a report was submitted to cabinet for their review. That is what the Director General of the Ministry of Health, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri said. Asked who prepared the cabinet paper recommending the re-merge, Leausa responded that it was he. Pushed on whether other stakeholders were consulted, Leausa said no.

Why? Well according to the Director General “the obvious body language by the parties is why there was no consultation.”

The statements in the articles are misleading and quoted out of context. Your reporter Joyetter Feagaimaalii was not present at the Commission of Inquiry at all and has admitted that she got this information from someone else’s audio recording.

To set the record straight, there were numerous Consultations regarding the Merge with National Health Service (NHS) including a full functional review carried out by the Public Service Commission. Furthermore, the NHS General Manager & Clinical Manager are members of the Health Merge Taskforce chaired by the Minister of Health and assisted by the Ministers of Finance & Public Enterprises.

Some of the NHS Management are members of the Human Resource Subcommittee, who report to the Health Merge Taskforce. Other stakeholders were also advised and updated through our Health Program Advisory Committee (HPAC) meetings.

Please advise your journalists to verify their comments before publishing untrue comments that are quite defamatory given the sensitive nature the Health sector is going through with the Merger. I have an open door policy and am happy to clarify any queries they may have in future.

Male fa’aaloalo lava,

 

Leausa Toleafoa Dr Take Naseri  

Director General of Health/CEO Ministry of Health

Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>