MHMS FIJI
MHMS FIJI

Press Release

Health Ministry updates the Doctors Internship Program

October 29th, 2020

The newly graduated medical doctors are required to undergo a two year internship program compared to the one year program that was practiced until 2019 before they are deployed to serve our communities in the Health Facilities around the country.

This was revealed by the Minister for Health and medical services Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete as he opened the Meeting on the review of the internship program at the Grand Pacific Hotel this morning.

The Health Ministry in collaboration with the Fiji National University and the University of Fiji has been engaged in increasing the pool of doctors trained and ready to be deployed following a standardized and expended Internship Program.

Dr Waqainabete says that it is very important that the new doctors are groomed in such a way to handle the many challenges in their line of duty and they should be well prepared to address them.

“One of the reasons why we are here is how we can make their experience as a young professional a rewarding one and they become professionals in skills, knowledge, and behavior”.

The WHO Representative of the in the South Pacific Dr Corinne Capuano highlighted that Medical Internships are of great significance to cultivate clinical thinking and sharpen clinical skills.

“The extension of the Fiji Medical Internship duration is therefore a positive development which should help newly qualified doctors to experience a wider range of specialties.

She further said that WHO stands ready to support endeavors in Fiji to strengthen human resource planning for health.

Upon completion of the workshop, the Ministry hopes to finalize the proposed Medical Internship Program ready for implementation.

Health Ministry Pharmaceuticals Supply Chain Reform Project to improve access to medicines

22 October, 2020 Suva. The Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) through the Fiji Pharmaceuticals and Biomedical Services, today launched the Fiji Pharmaceuticals Supply Chain Reform project, in partnership with the Australian Government.

The project aims to improve the efficiency of supply chain management and procurement systems in order to increase availability, access and timely distribution of medicines and consumables to health facilities across Fiji.

Annually, the Government of Fiji spends around FJD50 million on medicines and consumables. Despite an overall adequate budget, chronic shortages and out of stocks of essential medicines are reported.

“Through this reform project, the Fiji Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Services will be able to make 30-40% savings through better contract management, more efficient tendering and improved logistics management,” Health Minister Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete said.

“The issue isn’t that we aren’t procuring enough medicines for the country, it’s the processes in which it is procured, distributed and monitored that we will improve, to ensure that all Fijians have access to medicines through their hospitals and health centres.

We are grateful to the Australian Government for partnering with us to bring much needed efficiencies to our pharmaceutical supply chain,” Dr Waqainabete added.

The project will be managed by Beyond Essential Systems of Australia, a company with extensive experience in supply chain reform and management in the Pacific region.

“The Australian Government is pleased to support the Ministry of Health and Medical Services in this mammoth project. Through this partnership, Beyond Essential Systems will introduce innovative supply mapping technology that will streamline the medical supply chain and bring about equitable access to vital medicines for Fijians,” Australia’s Deputy High Commissioner to Fiji, John Feakes said.

 

“Our Government is proud to continue to support the Fiji Government’s vision for a healthy population through projects such as this that will ensure that Fijians have access to the right medicines, of the right quality and quantity and at the right time,” Mr Feakes added.

 

OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE WHO FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON TOBACCO CONTROL 2030 FIJI PROJECT
  • Your Excellencies – Mr Feakes, Mr Curr & Mr Welsh
  • UNDP Representative – Ms Gayane Tovmasyan
  • The Director Technical Support – WHO South Pacific – Dr Capuano
  • Representative – DFAT & MFAT
  • Representative – Fiji Revenue & Customs Service
  • Representative – Fiji Police Force
  • Ladies & Gentleman

NI SA BULA VINAKA

 This year marks the 17th year of Fiji’s commitment and support towards the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

 

  • Signed in 2003 and the first developing country to do so, Fiji remain consistent in its commitment for the last 17 years to stand with countries that have rectified the Convention & Protocol and to rise above the tobacco industry’s documented history of sabotage, and together develop innovative approaches that will see Fijians protected and safeguarded from the harmful effects of tobacco products.

 

  • Tobacco continues to be one of the leading cause of morbidity and mortality across the globe. With over 8 million deaths each year world-wide, this makes the tobacco epidemic one of the largest public health threats.

 

  • There is irrefutable evidence on the devastating effects of tobacco to individuals and families alike. It is highly addictive and causes ill health and death to users. Even non-users exposed to second-hand smoke are affected, and that accounts to 1.2 million deaths globally a year. And unfortunately, even children to addictive parents fall victim in the process.

 

  • The most recent Global School-based Student Health Survey in Fiji conducted in 2016 found that over 50% of children aged 13-15 years reported being exposed to tobacco smoke in public places and homes in the past week.

 

  • The total cost of healthcare attributable to smoking-related diseases in the Western Pacific region (WPR) equates to an average of 2.6% of its national GDP for 15 Countries surveyed in our region.

 

  • This consequently has tremendous impact on the progress of economic development and growth because global data indicates an alarming majority of deaths from tobacco in developing countries across the earth happened within the economically productive age bracket of 30 – 69 years.

 

  • Social impact, such as unemployment, school dropout poverty, addiction, to name a few becomes a consistent issue with the most vulnerable severely affected in children and the elderly.

 

  • In Fiji’s effort to ensure that suffering caused by tobacco products continues to be supressed, the government in 2010 passed the Tobacco Control Act with the Tobacco Regulation in 2012.

 

  • The Fijian Government through its annual budget have had consistent increase in tobacco taxation since 2013, which had resulted in a significant increase in prices of tobacco products which subsequently act as a deterrent to users over the last years.

 

  • With the government’s endorsement on the Tobacco Regulation in 2012, Fiji has instituted drastic measures towards its tobacco control work that includes the following:

 

  • Introducing graphic health pictures on all tobacco packaging that covers 30% on the front and 90% at the back.
  • Annual registrations of wholesalers and distributors.
  • Annual licensing for manufacturers and importers which carries a hefty amount.
  • Restriction of public places from smoking, and that includes workplace, enclose areas where public has access, eateries, and designated areas in taverns, bars and nightclubs.

 

  • There has been a significant increase on the trainings done for tobacco control officers and prosecutors over the years which have consequently resulted in an increasing number of offenders apprehended and the subsequent increase in cases that ended up in court.

 

  • With our current remodelling plan, much of this service will be decentralized and we are intending to open up more tobacco enforcement units at the sub-regional national level.

 

  • While there are significant progresses in Fiji’s compliance to the FCTC, global data revealed that 11.6% of all tobacco is sourced from illicit streams, and this amounts to around 1 in every 9 cigarettes.

 

  • Tax avoidance and tax evasion continue to increase and they undermine the effectiveness of tobacco control policies. These activities range from legal actions such as purchasing tobacco products from lower tax jurisdiction to illegal ones such as smuggling and counterfeiting.

 

  • Lately, Fiji has experienced an increase in chewing tobacco (which is an illegal product) and counterfeit tobacco products which do not meet the requirements of our legislation.
  • We are slowly witnessing the presence of unregulated emerging tobacco products such as shisha and other products like e-cigarettes within our boarders and Fiji’s step to becoming a Party to the World Health Organization’s Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products in 2019 is timely and prudent.

 

  • Around this time last year, the Ministry convened a multi-stakeholder consultation to strengthen Fiji’s tobacco enforcement work specifically around the areas of illicit trade of tobacco products at our boarders and within.

 

  • A major outcome in that meeting is the formation of what we currently have as the “National Tobacco Control Multi-Stakeholder Taskforce” which comprised of the Fiji Revenue & Customs Services (FRCS), Fiji Police Force, Local Municipal Councils and Health.

 

  • Following that is the signing of an MOU earlier this year between the Ministry and the FRCS that gives us access to the FRCS’s Automated System of Customs & Data World (ASYCUDA WORLD) on imported and exported products.

 

  • This is a major breakthrough in Ministry’s effort to ensure that what comes in and out of our boarders is regulated and conveniently tracked and traced and this data sharing platform will give us access to first hand data and information on movements of commodities which will easily result in the apprehension of perpetrators of illicit activities.

 

  • And I take this time to acknowledge and thank the support of our partners – the Fiji Police Force, the Municipal Councils and the FRCS that has ensured the formation of a broader collaborative cross-sectoral platform of addressing illicit tobacco trade.
  • And this project through the Convention Secretariat, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and WHO will no doubt enhance our efforts in achieving the articles in the FCTC & the Protocol and surely align us well in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

 

  • With that said, I have much pleasure in officially launching the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control 2030 Fiji Project.

 

 VINAKA VAKALEVU

Fiji Appointed as Vice-chair for the WHO Regional Committee Meeting

06-10-20

The WHO Regional committee meeting for the Western Pacific Region commenced this morning where Fiji was elected as the Vice-chair of the Regional committee meeting.

This reflects the enormous work Fiji has done in terms of providing a vigilant health service delivery as the COVID-19 global pandemic is gripping the world.

In Fiji’s Response to the Regional Directors Address to the Western Pacific Regional committee meeting, Chief Medical Advisor, MOH, Dr. Jemesa Tudravu said that Fiji is committed to ensuring that all vulnerable groups’ health needs are met and asks WPRO to share information on successful strategies across the region.

“While COVID-19 is novel and requires substantial resourcing, the normative functions of Health Ministries such as Vaccination programs especially in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) must continue to be supported. We call on WHO and Development partners to also support these important normative health functions for our nations”, Dr. Tudravu Said.

He further mentioned that Fiji has proceeded with remodeling our Health services akin to a business re-engineering process and requires accurate and timely data collected and analyzed by robust information systems that contribute to planning and implementation.

“We thank the support of the Division of Pacific Technical Support and acknowledge the wisdom in relocating the Regional Office’s Director of Administration and Finance to the WHO office in Fiji as an important step in decentralizing decision making for effective collaboration and response to health services needs of the region”.

We have become better collaborators through this pandemic and WHO’s help, in particular, the WHO office in Suva, Fiji, providing us with expertise and support, has been crucial to our success. Our achieving COVID-contained status has also meant the protection of WHO staff in Fiji together with all other high-ranking officials of diplomatic missions, UN agencies, and international organizations based in Fiji. We call on WHO and partners’ continuous support for Fiji and member states towards NCD, Climate Change and Health, and also Safe & Affordable Surgery.

Health Minister Dr. Ifereimi Waqainabete also congratulated the Regional Director and WHO Western Pacific Regional Office team for your exemplary service and leadership during one of the most challenging years for global and regional health services

STATEMENT FROM THE ACTING PERMANENT SECRETARY

STATEMENT FROM THE ACTING PERMANENT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH AND MEDICAL SERVICES

08/09/2020

Today we are announcing one new border quarantine case of COVID-19. The patient is a 64-year-old female Fijian citizen who arrived on repatriation flight GA7280 from New Delhi, which arrived in Nadi on Thursday, August 27th, 2020.

As with all prior border quarantine cases, this latest patient has been under strict border quarantine conditions since arrival into Nadi. This includes compulsory 14-day quarantine at a government-designated quarantine facility under supervision from the Republic of Fiji Military Forces and the Ministry of Health and Medical Services. She is in stable condition and has been transferred to the isolation ward at the Lautoka hospital as per standard protocol for confirmed cases.

This is the third border quarantine case confirmed among the passengers on board this repatriation flight. As previously announced, in line with our infection control protocols, all areas of Nadi Airport accessible to passengers from that flight have been hygienically deep-cleaned, as overseen by our on-site medical officer and health inspectors. The frontline border staff that were directly involved in the arrival of the passengers on this flight have also all tested negative for COVID-19.

With this new case, Fiji has six active border quarantine cases, all of whom are being treated in isolation at either the Nadi or Lautoka hospitals. We are diligently enforcing our border quarantine and infection control protocols. As such, these border quarantine cases continue to pose zero risks to the health and wellbeing of the Fijian public.