Floating Medical Camp Attends Close To 3000 In Lomaiviti
Close to 3000 people made use of the free medical checkup provided by the 91-member medical team that sailed to the Lomaiviti islands on the Lomaiviti Princess I last week.
Lomaiviti I was converted to a floating medical camp over five days in the Lomaiviti waters.
The vessel, one of the five owned by Goundar Shipping Limited, had left Suva last Monday night for two days on Ovalau and a day each at Koro and Gau.
The medical team attended to 657 patients at Delana Methodist School in Levuka on Tuesday, 585 at Bureta on the west coast of Ovalau on Wednesday, 956 patients in Nabasovi in Koro on Thursday and 659 patients in Navukailagi District School in Gau on Friday.
This totaled 2857 patients who had the medical services brought to their door steps.
During the debrief on board Lomaiviti Princess I on Friday night, GSL managing director George Goundar praised medical team for their voluntary service.
“On behalf of the people of Lomaiviti, I want to thank you for sacrificing your time to come here and provide specialised service for our people,” Mr Goundar said.
“Thank you for coming all the way from your countries and cities to visit the people of Ovalau, Koro and Gau in the Lomaiviti group.”
Contingent leader Dr Dinesh Lal thanked the 12 medical services sections individually and sought feedback from them for an improved visit in their next medical tour which they expected to carry out in three months.
“Thank you for sacrificing your vacation, your practice and paying for your own fare to come and join the camp (medical visit) for the past week,” Dr Lal said.
The team included doctors, dentists, nurses, technicians and volunteers for pediatric and surgical checkups, gastroenterology, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, stroke and physiotherapy, optometry, dental, dietetics and blood test for diabetic screening for free.
The service was provided from health professionals from New Zealand, Australia and Fiji with the sponsorship of Sathya Sai Organisations of Fiji and New Zealand with the Ministry of Health.
Middlemore Hospital of Auckland gastroenterologist Dr Lal also praised individuals who provided special service including an echo cardiogram technician recruited a few weeks before the visit
