VICTORIA, Seychelles — The Ministry of Health on Wednesday wrapped a three-day staff conference at the International Conference Centre Seychelles (ICCS) with a reform blueprint called “The New Era of Care”, a programme that Health Minister Dr Marvin Fanny says will guide how the country’s hospitals, primary care clinics and the Public Health Authority operate for the next planning cycle. More than 400 staff attended across the three days, with sessions repeated for different shifts and cohorts and additional sessions planned for Praslin and La Digue before a final recommendations report is produced.
The reform is built around seven strategic pillars, developed over recent months by senior leadership and now being socialised across the workforce: workforce and human resource transformation; patient experience and access to care; quality of care and clinical governance; staff welfare, motivation and a culture of care; service delivery model modernisation; digital health and data-driven decisions; and primary health care strengthening and community-based care. Each pillar is paired with a set of practical actions that staff are being asked to feed back on during the conference, an exercise Fanny describes as essential to the policy’s credibility.
The first half of the programme was clinical in focus. Secretary of State Dr Jude Padayachy opened with a presentation titled “The Kinetic Engine of Care”, followed by principal secretary for Health Policy, Strategy and Accountability Dr Sanjeev Pugazhendhi on key reform actions. Public Health Authority director of research Emelyn Shroff set out three reform priorities, and director general for Hospital Services Dr Jadhav Chandrashekhar outlined the operational direction for inpatient services. The second half moved to non-clinical functions: director general for Corporate Services Marc Chang-Lam on services overview, Michael Brutus on reform financing, director general for Facilities Arshad Fawad on facilities management, and biomedical engineer Israr Ali on equipment and maintenance reform. The mix mirrors the structure of the ministry itself after the merger of the former Health Care Agency, approved by Cabinet in February 2026.
The reform programme also draws on the policy direction set by the World Health Organization’s fourth Country Cooperation Strategy with Seychelles, which covers 2024 to 2030 and identifies three strategic priorities: tackling determinants of health, improving person-centred health services and enhancing health system resilience. The WHO framework, published in February 2025, sets the wider regional benchmark against which the Seychellois “New Era of Care” measures progress on patient-centred services, workforce investment and digital readiness.
Health workforce reform is one of the most concrete strands. The Health Professionals Council of Seychelles, which regulates allied health professions, said in March that it had met Minister Fanny and his senior team to discuss how to “increase the visibility of these professions, particularly among the younger generation, and inspire more individuals to pursue careers in these essential fields”, according to the Council’s own write-up. Pugazhendhi told the council that the Council’s strategic direction would need to align with the ministry’s broader reform objectives, a signal that licensing and training structures will move in step with the new pillars.
Digital health is another live workstream. The Commonwealth Secretariat and the WHO completed a digital health maturity assessment with Seychelles in 2023, the findings of which recommended mapping existing digital solutions into a coherent strategy, adopting standards for network infrastructure and training, and ensuring monitoring and evaluation are embedded from the start, according to the Commonwealth’s write-up of the workshop. The conference briefings on data-driven decisions feed directly into that unfinished work.
Fanny told staff the conference was the start, not the end, of the consultation. “I expect them to make either I or the ministry see certain things that we are not, things that are more technical or difficult, and they will bring it forward,” he said in remarks reported across the three-day programme. Once Praslin and La Digue sessions are complete, the feedback will be compiled into a single recommendations report that will guide “reforms in policies or structure wise”, in the minister’s words, before any operational decisions are taken.
Sources cited: 1. Health Professionals Council of Seychelles, “Health Professionals Council Meets with Minister for Health, Dr. Marvin Fanny”, 7 March 2026, . 2. State House of Seychelles, “Cabinet Business – Wednesday 18th February, 2026”, 18 February 2026, . 3. World Health Organization, “Country Cooperation Strategy, Seychelles 2024–2030”, published 25 February 2025, . 4. The Commonwealth Secretariat, “Seychelles health system is bolstered by Commonwealth–WHO partnership”, 7 November 2023, .
