Archives June 2016

OPEN HEART SURGERY WITH SAHYARDI

Sahyardi Specialty Pacific Hospital Limited is back in Fiji to continue their joint venture with Fiji in a Public Private Partnership. Once nearly every three months a small but committed team of doctors, nurses, and consultants travel to Fiji from India to provide specialized care at CWM.

Although Sahyardi Hospital is mostly performing open heart surgeries, they are also equipped to perform high-end neuro and spine surgeries, and joint replacement surgeries. During this trip, the team will carry out between 2-3 operations a day.

Physicians from Sahyardi were also in Fiji during Tropical Cyclone Winston.

“One thing I can say, the Fijian people have a lot of heart,” proclaimed Dr Chandrashekar Kulkarni, “The Cyclone came over the weekend, and on Tuesday we were back at work seeing our patients, thanks to the incredible staff at CWM.”

Complete treatment for patients is delivered until patients are discharged. The team from Sahyardi Specialty Pacific Hospital Ltd is intended to be in Fiji through 25^th June.

“Worthy of love, respect and above all dignity” Albinism Awareness Day 2016

Community Joins Walk

Last Saturday, the Westpac Bank and Ministry of Health & Medical Services hosted the first Westpac Walk of the year. Participants included Corrections, FNU, and the Flying Fijians 15s Team.

Students and faculty from Fiji National University hosted the warm up, shared the benefits of exercise, and explained how to determine if one is at risk of NCD’s using body measurements.

“To determine if you are at risk of cardiovascular illnesses, divide your height by the circumference of your waist. For men, the ratio should be within 1 cm, for women, the ratio should be within .8 cm” cautioned Dr Akinremi of FNU.

In the past, the Westpac Walk was each quarter, but now they will be hosted every trimester. The event is free of charge. Keep an eye out for the next Westpac walk near you!

People continue to support Fight the Bite – Clean up Fiji campaign

The Ministry of Health and Medical Services has received positive feedback from communities and organizations around the country as they participate in “Fight the Bite – Clean Up Fiji” campaign.

The campaign is in its third week of implementation since the roll out on the 16^th of May 2016.

Destruction of Mosquito breeding places is the primary objective of this campaign with the target to reduce mosquito densities and ultimately minimize the spread of diseases such as Dengue fever, Chikungunya and Zika.

There are now 17 confirmed Zika cases and 24 confirmed Chikungunya cases and additional samples have been sent for testing.

The Minister for Health & Medical Services Hon. Jone Usamate said that these mosquito-borne diseases can be reduced if we all work together as a community to eliminate mosquito breeding places. The Minister has called all of Government departments, the Municipalities, the community groups and partners to join in the clean-up campaign.

“When you clean up, you are helping yourselves, your families and your neighbors to be protected from mosquito-borne diseases, Mosquitoes does not discriminate and it needs to have its meal from human blood therefore anyone can be bitten.” Mr Usamate said.

Our health teams have commenced spraying in urban and rural areas throughout the country and to date Labasa, Lami, and Taveuni have recorded 100% coverage while other divisions are almost achieving their targets.

It is expected that all areas will be covered over the next few weeks as we approach the completion of the campaign. However, localized and focused spraying will continue at areas identified through surveillance to have persistently high mosquito densities.

The Health Ministry advocates and encourage the people of Fiji to keep their surroundings clean and free of mosquito breeding containers for everyone to live in a mosquito disease-free environment.

EXTENSION OF NASEA HEALTH CENTRE, MACUATA, NORTHERN DIVISION

The people of Maucata Subdivision will now have better access to health care with the extension of Nasea Health Centre in Labasa Town. This subdivision was selected for expansion due to the high population (70,000 people) and subsequent demand for medical services.

The extension has provided more space for services such general outpatients, special outpatients and pharmaceutical services. The Health Centre sees between 200-300 patients per day while it also shares the workload of Labasa Hospital special outpatients services.

Plans are under way to introduce the Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) clinic for children under 5 years, which will reduce patient transfer from one building to another and be more convenient for patients.

The Minister for Health and Medical Services Mr Jone Usamate visited the Health Centre yesterday, where he was briefed on the services available. Mr Usamate was impressed with the well-thought idea of centralising the medical services for the comfort of patients.

“I applaud the efforts of the health team here in the North to improve the quality of the services as we must be mindful of the needs of the people and provide the best health services,” Mr Usamate said.

The Ministry of Health remains committed to providing an affordable, equitable and accessible health care service to all the citizens of Fiji.