Dr Waqainabete Putting His Faith in Local Health System
Consultations among doctors had built confidence and strengthened the medical fraternity. He said they had even started a medical journal.
As a 45-year-old surgeon at the top of his career, Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete, could be doing financially better at a hospital in New Zealand or Australia.
Instead, his passion for Fiji and faith in the health system, have kept him here.
In fact this is where he is mostly likely to spend the rest of his life.
He was trained at the local medical school and had his post graduate training at Parlmerston North and Christchurch hospitals in New Zealand for three and a half years.
He is among a growing group of Fijian medical and health specialists who have returned to the country because of Government support and better pay and working conditions.
He is the president of the Fiji Medical Association, consultant surgeon at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva and consultant surgeon at the Fiji National University’s medical school.
How much faith does Dr Waqainabete have in our medical and health service?
“When my wife or children get sick, I take them to the public hospital,” he said.
“People might say it’s because I am a doctor. It’s because I trust the system.”
He said it was not perfect , no other health system was perfect, but it had developed and improved significantly over the past 10 years in the areas of cardiology, neurosurgery, radiation and oncology and kidney treatment through dialysis. “While people who could afford it went to private hospitals, there was an increasing number of people in high places now going to public hospitals,” he said.
He said the negative perception about public hospitals was based on outcomes only. It failed to look at the history of the case to get a full and correct account of what happened.
He disclosed that some of the deaths that happened at the hospitals were preventable. But, they happened because the patients were brought to hospital late. Dr Waqainabete said patients were usually brought to the hospital when the illness had reached the critical stage.
“The final outcome of medical treatment depends on how fit the patient is when brought in,” he said.
“If there is a boil, the family might treat it at home with traditional herbal medicine. When it fails and it gets worse then they bring the patient to the health centre or hospital.
“We advise people to bring patients early when it’s easier to treat them. The mindset needs to change.
“The second point is that the patient must trust the doctor. We need to support our doctors and nurses and medical personnel.
“The third is treatment. Doctors start with the state of the patient was in when brought in.”
He said people here were fortunate to have a free medical and health service that was easily accessible.
“They did not need a GP (general practitioner or private doctor), like in New Zealand and Australia. They did not need to pay at public hospital as they did in Vanuatu,” he added.
In Fiji, health centres dot the country so medical services are accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even in remote rural areas, like the Nasau Health Centre in Ra.
Its doctor was allegedly attacked and held at knifepoint by two men last Friday.
“The free health service is a major relief for people in maritime zones,” Dr Waqainabete said.
“For example, a sick patient in Moala, Lau, can be airlifted free of charge to Suva, get free tablets and free treatment. Then the patient gets a free passage back home by boat when discharged.”
Dr Waqainabete said the exposure that local doctors had overseas was essential in their professional development and service delivery. Even the famous American neurosurgeon Ben Carson went to Perth, Australia, for one year as part of his overseas exposure.
At, 33, he earned fame for his groundbreaking work in separating conjoined twins. Dr Waqainabete said the overseas training had built that intellectual capacity, step by step, over the years. Consultations among doctors had built confidence and strengthened the medical fraternity. He said they had even started a medical journal.
He said despite its limited resources, Fiji was punching above its weight just like it was doing in rugby and other international forums. “The future looks good.”