Health merger

Management structure proposed for merged Samoa health service

As part of its recommendation, the commission wants an executive midwife nurse to be one of the directors of the new entity.

The office holder should have the capacity to assist and support clinical leaders in deployment and professional development, it said.

The commission's findings said the task force's proposed management structure was overly complex and lacked clarity regarding clinical and administrative positions as well as systems of accountability.

Inquiry into proposed Samoa health merger underway

The ministry's director general of health, Leausa Take Naseri, told the inquiry the merger was in the best interests of public healthcare in Samoa.

Questions were raised as to whether the organisations could work together to improve healthcare.

Leausa said the relationship and communication between the two bodies had not been good for a decade.

He said that as a result the Nurses Association president and an overseas medical expert had petitioned the government to merge the institutions.

Commission of Inquiry into Samoa health merger announced

The inquiry will also recommend options for the proposed new structure after consultation.

The government's move to appoint a commission of inquiry comes after the nurses association met with the Prime Minister, Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi, to discuss the controversial proposal.

The newly elected president of the nurses association, Solialofi Papalii, said the proposed management structure is unacceptable to current senior nurses.

She said nurses must be represented at the management level.

Proposed Samoa health merger lacking harmony

On Thursday, at his press conference, Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi played down signs that the proposed merger is in jeopardy.

He blamed past management of the Samoa Health Services for not implementing a Cabinet decision to give doctors a pay increase back in 2013.

But the previous day, his Minister of Health Tuitama Dr Talalelei Tuitama told the Samoa Observer that there was a conspiracy by the current NHS management to sabotage the process.