The Ministry of Health needs to improve the management of the Free Medicine Scheme.
Minister Jone Usamate made this comment after NFP parliamentarian, Biman Prasad asked if the Ministry has carried out an audit to ascertain the status of the free medicine scheme.
Usamate says the ministry carried out an assessment in December last year on how well the scheme was going and found some areas that needs improvement.
He adds that the distribution of the free medicine needs to improve as well as the financing side of it and the selection of the free medicine.
Usamate says the recommendations of improving the management of the scheme were to be implemented this year but after the cyclone, there were more efforts put in to deal with other issues.
He also says that the expiration of medicine is minimal.
Usamate says Fiji has reduced its medicine expiring standard to 3% and hopes to decrease it further.
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