Compain Slams Assistant Health Minister for Overseas Trip Amid CWM Hospital Crisis

Health advocate Judy Compain has criticised Assistant Minister for Health Penioni Ravunawa for travelling overseas to meet Fijian seasonal workers while major service disruptions and facility failures continue at the Colonial War Memorial (CWM) Hospital in Suva.

In a strongly worded statement, Compain described the situation at CWM as “beyond alarming,” alleging that raw sewage had seeped into operating theatres, surgeries had been cancelled for weeks, and patients were waiting months or even years for critical treatment.

“This is Fiji’s largest hospital and it is collapsing in slow motion while leaders look the other way,” Compain said.

“People are suffering and dying. This cannot be handled with the same ‘work in progress’ excuses we have been fed for years.”

Compain questioned why the Assistant Minister was travelling abroad while the health system at home was facing severe breakdowns.

“How are we supposed to take the Ministry’s commitment seriously when the Assistant Minister for Health was overseas while his own hospital system is in crisis?” she said.

“There is always money for travel, but never urgency for our hospitals.”

While overseas, Ravunawa raised concerns about the working and living conditions of Fijian labourers in Australia under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.

He claimed some workers reported discrimination, delayed pay, limited support from labour hire companies, and harsh working condition

“They work like Girmitiyas, I would say,” Ravunawa told local media — a comment that immediately sparked backlash online.

The term Girmitiya refers to labourers brought from India to Fiji under the indenture system from 1879 to 1916. They were subjected to hard labour, corporal punishment, restricted movement, exploitative plantation overseers and widespread sexual and physical abuse, often for extremely low or withheld pay.

One social media user responded:

“PALM is nothing like Girmit. Read a history book or two while taking fancy trips overseas. You’ll learn something.”