The Ministry of Health and Medical Services is targeting school children to become ambassadors of health.

The initiative was created through the partnership of the ministry and Courts (Fiji) Limited as part of its corporate responsibility to drive a healthier and productive nation by eradicating the increasing cases of Non-Communicable Diseases.

Minister for Health and Medical Services Rosy Akbar said: “The Ministry of Health, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, has launched the School Health Policy last year, which is going to be strictly implemented and monitored.

“That is something the ministry is going to vigorously pursue to see that the school canteens sell nutritious food.

“And we are appealing to the canteen operators to be responsible and not to choose profits over the health of our children,” she said yesterday during the launch of the Fight against Non-Communicable Diseases: Courts and Sports World Health and Fitness Month.

“There is also awareness and concern about the large and escalating burden of chronic; NCD’s not just from the public health perspective but also from the economic one.

Last year, the ministry had assisted 33 patients in accessing overseas treatment and this included those in urgent need of highly risk, cardiac surgeries.

Ms Akbar said the ministry had spent around $US151,897 ($315,467) to send these patients for overseas treatment.

“You can see that NCD’s incurs financial burden to the families and the nation,” she said.

Ms Akbar said the ministry’s statistics revealed that from 2014 to 2016, 1869 amputations were done.

Of this, 835 were females and 1034 were males.

Courts Fiji Limited director marketing Anil Senewiratne, and Sports World general manager Vinod Kumar, thanked the Ministry of Health and Medical Services for their support.

They assured Ms Akbar of their continuous support to promote health and wellness in the country.

Edited by Paula Tuvuki