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Miniistry of Health - Fijifacebook.com/MoHFiji www.health.gov.fjH e a l t h y L i v i n g

July 2014

Patients with ear, nose and throat together with head and neck disorders received appropriate diagnosis and treatment from a specialist team that visited the lautoka hospital recently.The team consisted of two surgeon , an Anaesthetist and a nurse has been visiting Fiji and conducted a number of surgeries The Ministry of health has welcomed the team as this service is not available locally and treatment is absolutely free.The team worked in association with in country medical personnel to further develop local skills for the provision of specialist services between visits from overseas teams.This visit was delivered under the auspices of the Pacific Islands Program (PIP) a program funded by the Commonwealth of Australia and managed by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons on behalf of the Australian Government.

ENT SPECIALIST TEAM VISIT FIJIThe Health Minister Dr Neil Sharma whilst in the northern

division and has undertaken a customer focused inspection of the northern division health services.

Dr Sharma has held open and frank discussions with medical and nursing staff with the aim to improve health care delivery after the recent complaints received. The Minister has also met with the general public briefly to address the challenges on continuity of care.

“Identified areas are being fast tracked which includes the set up of a visible customer care centre at the Labasa Outpatient Department with links to the Root Cause Officer in the division and the Board of Visitors of Labasa. This will initially be spread to the subdivision”, said Dr Sharma.

The Minister has also given the directive for regular weekly sharing of information between Customer Care Officers and the Root Cause Team. The Minister will also address ongoing complaint issues arising from these weekly meetings.

Meanwhile the Health Ministry remains committed towards improving health care delivery services around the country.

HEALTH: OPEN LEARNING HEALTH NETWORK CENTRE FOCUS ON STAFF DEVELOPMENT

HEALTH MINISTER FOCUSES ON CUSTOMER CARE IN THE NORTH

The Health Ministry remains committed in ensuring that staff receives adequate training practically and theoretically.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in conjunction with the Health Ministry has established a Pacific Open Learning Health Network Centre (POLHN). This was officially opened by the Health Minister Dr Neil Sharma and Dr Ezekiel Nakuro Techincal Officer human resources and health systems from WHO.

Dr Sharma said, “The POLHN program a partnership between WHO and the Ministry of Health has been growing in importance for Fiji as a means of providing continuing professional development for our health workers, so they can provide quality health services for the people of Fiji”.

POLHN contributes relevant advances in health research happening globally through access to more than 1000 self-paced courses in a range of areas from NCDs to infection prevention and control to psychosocial. We have a network of 25 internet connected computer centers set-up in divisional and sub-divisional hospitals around our nation.

Between 2003 and 2012, 815 health workers used POLHN to strengthen their skills and knowledge. Then, in 2013 — with the introduction of licensing requirements as well as increased advocacy 1745 health workers registered to take courses, to

improve the services they provide.“As health issues evolve in Fiji, as we face high rates of no

communicable diseases (NCD), a persisting communicable disease burden as well as outbreaks and emergencies, it is imperative that we have the skills and knowledge to address these challenges and we can only do this by continually challenging ourselves to learn, to grow and to do better”, said Dr Sharma.

ALERT ON TYPHOID FEVERThe Health Ministry urges all individuals and communities in

Fiji to take the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of typhoid fever year in view of the 28 confirmed cases of typhoid fever reported from the greater Suva area from 01 January to 20 June this year.

Typhoid fever usually occurs in Fiji and appears particularly during the second half of a calendar year, from July to December. Typhoid fever, which can be life-threatening, is caused by the bacteria Salmonella typhi. The reservoir for Salmonella typhi is humans and the bacteria is spread when the feces of a typhoid infected individual contaminates the food or water that is consequently consumed by a well uninfected individual.

Once the Salmonella bacteria infects individuals, the symptoms of typhoid fever appear after 21 days and includes: high fever for more than 3 days, headache, diarrhoea or constipation, poor appetite, body weakness, red rash on the trunk and in severe cases and passing blood through stools.

Prevention of typhoid fever requires an enhancement of personal and environmental sanitation and hygiene. Thorough washing of hands with soap before eating and after using

the toilet (after passing stool or urinating) is the single most important prevention measure for typhoid fever. Other measures of prevention includes proper food storage and cooking prior to consumption; ensuring that water is treated and safe for drinking; construction of the correct amount of toilets and water access with the right environmental construction designs

The Ministry of Health continues to make available information materials on the prevention and control of typhoid fever at its health facilities which the public can access. Further, the Ministry has health promotion and typhoid prevention slots on the television and also the radio programs. Healthcare workers from your nearest Government health facility usually undertake outreach programs which would also address typhoid prevention issues that community members have access to.

In typhoid affected communities, health workers will respond proactively and work with family members and contacts of the affected individual and also the community in general in curbing the potential of further spread of the disease. The Ministry appreciates the public support to mitigate the spread of typhoid fever in our communities during the second half of this year.

HEALTH MINISTRY CONDUCTS WELLNESS WORKSHOP NORTHThe Health Ministry’s Wellness Center team is in the north today

conducting a two day workshop on the Wellness Fiji Conceptual Framework 2014.

This workshop aims at ensuring health staff and relevant stakeholders are aware of the wellness concept allowing incorporation of this into the delivery of health services. Particularly, to address Fiji’s increasing burden of diseases.

The Wellness Center’s approach is to empower people to harvest wellness individually through their lifetime by choosing and adopting healthy lifestyles and behaviors that reduce behavioral risks for all sickness.

Wellness is a state of optimal and balanced well being of body, mind and spirit oriented towards maximizing an individual and community wellbeing at early stages of human development.

The framework has been endorsed and established to promote wellness and advocate for choices and practice that will prolong healthier lives for all Fijians.

Meanwhile the workshop has commenced today with the Commissioner Northern Alipate Bolalevu officially opening the

workshop. The Wellness Workshop will also be conducted in the western

division on the 3rd and 4th of July 2014 at Capricorn Hotel, Nadi.

NEW LOMALOMA BOATThe Board of Visitors of the Lomaloma Subdivisional Hospital

in collaboration with the Ministry of Health have constructed a new boat for delivering health services to the outlying islands in the Lomaloma medical subdivision. Such initiative is a welcome sign for the Ministry of Health as it works in partnership with local district hospital boards to ensure it takes health care services to hard-to-reach populations in the Eastern Division.

The boat is constructed at a cost of $83,000 and co-funded

with $30,000 from the hospital board and the balance from the Ministry of Health budget. The boat has all the modern gadgets installed to ensure personal safety at all times for both health staff and patients when travelling between islands. This is another development partnership that is being encouraged to facilitate and enable the Government and Ministry of Health to ensure universal health coverage for all its hard-to-reach communities.

The ministry of health signed a memorandum of understanding with the Labasa town council to promote health developments through a process of political commitment , institutional change , capacity building , partnership based planning and innovative projects under the Healthy Labasa Town initiative.Through this agreement the Ministry of health and the Labasa Town council will establish a multisectoral forum which will be called the Labasa Health Town Forum who shall be vested with the responsibility of the Healthy Labasa Town initiatives. The healthy cities /towns initiative is a global movement and the primary goal is to put health high on the social , economic and political agenda of city governments.The designated representative of the Labasa Town council, as the focal point under the Labasa Town initiative, and the ministry of Health, through the Divisional Medical Office North , will meet annually, on or around the anniversary date of the MOU, to evaluate progress in the implementation of the MOU and to revise new development plans.

HEALTH MINISTRY SIGNS MOU WITH LABASA TOWN.