Health facilities resume normal operations
Clinical services at the CWM Hospital, Lautoka Hospital and the Labasa Hospital are also fully operational.
Members of the public can now take advantage of servies provided by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services divisional and subdivisional health facilities that have resumed normal operations.
The clinical services at the CWM Hospital in Suva, Lautoka Hospital and the Labasa Hospital are also fully operational.
A team from the Fiji Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Services has also been visiting the health facilities in the Western Division to ensure that basic medicines are available as well.
Yesterday, the Minister for Health and Medical Services, Rosy Akbar also visited some of the evacuation centres and communities affected by Tropical Cyclone Keni. Minister Akbar was accompanied by a team from the Ministry’s Environmental Health Unit during visitations to evacuation centres in Sigatoka, Nadi and Lautoka.
During the visits, the health team distributed wash and hygiene kits to the families while the health outreach team continued to provide health checks and care for those in need of the health services.
The visits also provided an opportunity for the ministry to gauge the needs of affected families and determine what additional assistance they need to restore their livelihoods.
Meanwhile, the Health and Emergency Operations Centre based at the Ministry of Health Headquarters in Suva is working with the divisional health emergency operations team and the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) to provide the health interventions and support services.
In addition, the ministry’s Food and Nutrition Unit continues with the food surveillance exercise and awareness on the importance of food safety.
Members of the public are advised to make informed choices and refrain from purchasing any food items that may be visibly damaged or spoiled due to flooding. Consuming damaged food products will have serious health implications due to food borne illnesses.
The public is also advised to take heed of preventative measures to protect themselves and their families from sicknesses like typhoid, leptospirosis, dengue and diarrhoea.
The ministry is advising families to maintain their hand washing habits before eating and cooking, after visiting the toilet, and even after coming into contact with any unclean surface.
Fijians are advised to boil drinking water and also practise proper hygiene when eating and preparing meals.
They are also advised to destroy all the breeding grounds for mosquitoes and to protect themselves from the mosquitoe bites through wearing long sleeved shirts and pants, apply insect repellents, sleep under a mosquito net.
If any Fijian is experiencing fever, headache, vomiting or diarrhea, or witnesses these symptoms in a loved one, they are advised to visit their nearest local health facility to seek urgent medical advice.
The visit also provided an opportunity for the ministry to gauge the needs of affected families and determine what additional assistance they need to restore their livelihoods