🇲🇺 Rs 3.5 billion later, 16 health units are still badly understaffed

Rs 3.5 billion later, 16 health units are still badly understaffed

Five neurosurgeons now cover emergencies around the clock across five regional hospitals, two at Victoria and three at Dr A.G. Jeetoo. That is the staffing picture buried in the Ministry of Health's own annual performance report for 2025 to 2026, which flags acute shortages across 16 services even after Rs 3.5 billion went into the sector.

Diabetes care shows the squeeze plainly. Just two diabetologists serve 20 specialised clinics, and the report concedes that many patients never hit their blood sugar and blood pressure targets. Laboratory technologist numbers have slid from 230 in 2021 to 183 this year, with pathologists thin on the ground too.

Absenteeism, retirements, resignations, transfers and slow recruitment all get the blame. Two neurosurgeons who already passed their Medical Council exams are still waiting on their appointments, which tells you where part of the bottleneck really sits.

France to train Mauritian police as water funding nears

France will train Mauritian police officers and firefighters and help specialised units take apart drug trafficking networks, PM Ramgoolam's office said after his talks with President Macron at the Élysée on Wednesday. French know-how on maritime drones that spot illicit activity in local waters is part of package.

The bigger prize is water. PM Ramgoolam pushed for French and European financing to shore up the island's strained supply through the Agence Française de Développement, France's development agency, which is due to weigh the file at its board next week. Nothing is signed yet.

State importer defends a lorry deal for ration rice

The State Trading Corporation (STC) says it picked Fresh and Healthy Exotica Ltd to move ration rice because the firm put in the lowest of five eligible bids, following a 29 September tender. It has not used the company yet.

The sole director is Mayur Shibchurn, 26, son of Vishal Shibchurn, who was arrested in February 2024 during an inquiry into alleged assault and unlawful detention, separate from this deal. The STC calls the firm a duly registered wholesaler.

Housing regularisation push to cover the whole island

The scheme to regularise precarious and informal housing will stretch across all of Mauritius, Housing Minister Shakeel Mohamed told reporters, not just a handful of sites. Which settlements qualify, and when, is still to be spelled out.

Small firms win a reprieve on the sugar tax

Small and medium firms have been handed a reprieve on the sugar tax, the government signalled in a parliamentary reply, easing a levy that had unsettled smaller producers. The wider tax stays.

Shorts

Longer maternity leave for civil servants – From January public officers may take up to 52 weeks of maternity leave, with a circular still awaited.

Appeal court backs removing four Chagossians – The Court of Appeal upheld orders for four Chagossians to leave Île du Coin, reversing a lower court.

Fake plate driver held at La Vigie – A driver of 20 was held at La Vigie with a cloned number plate fitted to his car.

Water cuts put vegetable crops at risk – Strict irrigation cuts threaten 750 hectares of vegetables due before December, growers are nervous.

Sukon: telecom bill is about transparency – Minister Sukon says the new Mauritius Telecom Foundation Bill is mainly about transparency.

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85%

of the fish Mauritians eat comes from abroad, Parliament heard, a startling dependence for an island ringed by ocean. The fisheries reply framed it as a food security worry.

1,200+

people went on trial in Conakry over illegal gold mining, swept up in Guinea's crackdown in Siguiri. A number of local officials is among them.

11,000

confirmed cases now mark DR Congo's worst ever Ebola outbreak, with armed conflict slowing the response. The count passed on Wednesday.

Museveni's succession plan runs into his own party

A succession fight has opened inside Uganda's ruling party after senior officials rejected President Museveni's reported plan to line up his son as his heir apparent. President Museveni has run Uganda since 1986.

Open pushback from his own ranks is rare in a party long used to falling in behind one man.

Warnings before a South Sudan massacre went unheeded

South Sudan's government and UN peacekeepers ignored warnings before a March massacre that killed more than 200 people, Amnesty International says.

Arrest made in Ghanaian schoolboy's New York killing

New York police have arrested a teenager over the killing of a Ghanaian boy of 15 on his way to school, as Ghana's government pressed for justice.

Israeli strike on Gaza's Nasser hospital kills six

An Israeli airstrike hit the Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, early on Thursday, killing six people including a doctor and injuring at least 27, the World Health Organization said.

Israel said it had targeted Hamas. The strike battered one of the few hospitals still working in the south.

Indonesia's deputy leader quits over his diploma

Indonesian Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka has resigned after the courts ruled his academic credentials fell short of what the post required.

Barcelona march over rents ends in street clashes

A peaceful Barcelona march against soaring housing costs turned violent after dark, with masked protesters and riot police clashing in the city centre.

Four tremors in ten days: who is really watching?

Can an island shrug off a quake it cannot properly detect? Four tremors rattled the Indian Ocean in about ten days, and a Vacoas forecaster, Avinash Dookhee, says there is no danger.

An oceanographer is less relaxed, doubting whether Mauritius and Rodrigues even have the instruments to catch what moves beneath them. Reassurance comes easy, a seismograph is harder.

🙏 Merci, à demain! 👋

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