Nurse happy with opportunity to study obstetrics

The safe deliv­ery of babies and the welfare of mothers are pri­orities for Merelesita Viticauravou.

She was the only registered nurse from Levuka Hospital to be awarded the Aus­tralia Awards Pacific Scholarship (AAPS) on Thursday in Suva. She is originally from Lakeba, Lau, and is married with a child.

The 42-year-old who was has been a nurse since 1998, said she was happy to have been given an opportunity to continue her education further.

“I was posted for close to seven years in the Lau Group and I have seen some issues which the pregnant mothers face,” Ms Viticauravou said.

She also worked at Fulaga, Kabara and Moala.

“It was a good experience for me, being in the outer islands, and there are hardly any doctors and we have to manage the health centres ourselves,” she said.

“When in 1999, I went to Moala, Lau I delivered the first baby. It is hard for pregnant mothers to travel to health centres or come to Suva so they just deliver their babies at the nursing stations.

“I delivered more than 20 babies when I was in the Lau Group.”

She had applied to be a midwife when she was in the Lau Group, but she was reluctant to apply for the schol­arship because she felt that she had poor handwriting.

“To say that I would not go through my application because of that small thing, I managed to attain the scholarship,” Ms Viticauravou said.

“I really needed this scholarship because I am in­terested in obstetrics and I love doing deliveries. It’s personal affection for the mothers because I have seen mothers struggling to deliver babies during labour.

“There are complications associated with deliveries and I wanted to address these issues and how we can tackle them.”

She will be studying for a Postgraduate Diploma in Midwifery at the Fiji National University.

Edited by Percy Kean

Feedback: sheenam.chandra@fijisun.com.fj