YOUR VOTE COUNTS
Team identifies sick children on island
AS many as 163 children affected with heart disease were discovered in Levuka by a team from the Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Hospital Fiji during a recent visit to the Old Capital.
A statement from the hospital said the trip to Levuka was made on the back of a visit to Taveuni, Savusavu and Labasa where 121 children were diagnosed with heart disease.
Visiting cardiologist from Sai Sanjeevani Hospital India, Dr Yogesh Sathe, said the screening camp was once again a startling reality of pediatric health in rural and maritime Fiji.
“Our cardiac screening visit to Labasa, Savusavu and Taveuni was a revelation for the team, but this visit to Levuka has further deepened our concerns about the extent of heart disease prevalent across Fiji,” he said.
“It is of great concern to see the overwhelming statistics of the number of children affected by congenital heart disease (CHD) in Levuka.
“The discovery of these cases shows that it is our primary responsibility to act as a catalyst in speeding up the efforts of CHD awareness and early detection in the general population by training primary care paediatricians and community practitioners, health workers, nursing units at multiple places.”
As many 883 children had their hearts screened, out of these children, 93 were diagnosed with CHD and 70 with rheumatic heart disease (RHD).
All the children diagnosed with CHD during these screening clinics have been referred for further echo screening, and if surgeries are required, they will have them done at the Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Hospital in Suva free of cost.