Spike in early heart disease among young Indo-Fijian men sparks global concern

Young Indo-Fijian males, are showing alarmingly high rates of early onset heart disease.

It is a trend that has sparked concern among international medical professionals. These statistics are limited to the patients who were admitted to MIOT Hospitals.

MIOT International managing director Dr Prithvi Mohandas yesterday revealed that young Indo-Fijians are disproportionately affected by cardiovascular conditions compared to other ethnic groups here.

"When we look at young patients coming to us with heart diseases, the majority are Indian-origin Fijian males," Dr Mohandas said.

"Among older patients, the distribution is more even, but this early onset in younger populations is a serious concern."

Dr Mohandas made these remarks during a recent visit to Lautoka, where MIOT was working in partnership with local health services to provide cardiology and open-heart surgery care.

The trend, he said, was not isolated to Fiji.

Similar patterns have been observed in Indian and other South Asian populations living in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe.

"This could be linked to lifestyle changes in diet, reduced physical activity, and even increased access to diagnosis," he said.

"Many of these individuals may not be genetically or metabolically adapted to modern diet and sedentary habits that come with urban living."

Cancer scare

Alongside heart disease, Dr Mohandas also raised concerns over the rising number of Fijians treated in India suffering from cancer.

"In the past five years, MIOT alone has received over 300 cancer patients from Fiji, with at least 60 annually,'' he said.

This influx highlights the challenges Fiji faces in managing complex non-communicable diseases (NCDs), especially when it comes to cancer care and screening infrastructure.

Dr Mohandas stressed the importance of national programmes for both cancer prevention and early detection.

"One of the most common cancers here, cervical cancer, can be almost entirely prevented through vaccination," he said.

"Girls under the age of 12 should be offered the HPV vaccine. For other high-risk cancers like gastrointestinal and breast cancer, screening tools such as colonoscopy and mammography need to become more accessible and widely used."

He urged public health authorities to prioritise preventive healthcare to curb growing burden of NCDs among Fijians particularly those most at risk.

President of the Fiji Medical Association, Dr Alipate Vakamocea, has clarified that recent health statistics circulating in public discourse do not reflect the national population, but rather data gathered from patients accessing services through Aspen Medical or MIOT

Dr Vakamocea emphasised that any conclusions drawn from the figures must consider the limited scope of the data.

"The statistics don't represent Fiji as a whole, but rather patients who access medical assistance through Aspen," he said.

Meanwhile, Fiji's public health campaign to combat cervical cancer through vaccination remains active.

Dr Vakamocea confirmed that the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was still being administered to girls under the age of 12 across the country as part of a nationwide immunisation drive.

"We are still actively rolling out HPV injections for girls under the age of 12," he said, noting that this preventive measure was a key part of Fiji's long-term strategy for improving women's health.

Feedback: sosiveta.korobiau@fijisun.com.fj