Transportation is our main obstacle in getting proper health care and this is not good for us.

These are the sentiments of Church Elder Tevita Auwe of Tubou, Lakeba on the access to health services for his people.

Auwe said right now there are only fibre glass boats which takes the doctors and nurses to every island adding, this can take days as the islands are far apart. He said there should be one big boat to service all the islands like they previously had.

Meanwhile Sereia Mara of Namarai Ra, said for them the roads are a problem as it is really hard for the carriers to come and go when someone is sick, and sometimes when the carriers do get through, the Health Centre in Dawasamu is closed which means they then have to travel farther to seek medical help.

Mara said its worse when carriers have gone to Suva and they have to resort to finding a boat for transportation, because fuel nowadays is very expensive, and if they don't find a boat they have to go all the way to Rakiraki which takes a few hours to get there.

Mara adds because of this transportation problem alot of people have died on the way.

The Health and Transport Ministry are expected to comment later.