Annual report / Medical Department, Fiji.

  • Fiji. Medical Department.
Date:
[1955]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report / Medical Department, Fiji. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/86 (page 4)
    19. Fifty-four nursing participants and discussion leaders from twenty countries in the Region attended the Seminar in Fiji from 4th to 28th July, 1955. In officially opening the Seminar, His Excellency the Acting Governor of Fiji, the Honourable A. F. R. Stoddart, C.M.G., welcomed to Fiji the representatives from many lands who had gathered to attend the Seminar. After referring to the training of nurses, the variety of problems associated with the widely differing background from which pupils are drawn and the varying conditions under which they will work when trained, His Excellency also stated that it was very gratifying that Fiji had been chosen as the meeting place for this Seminar. The countries represented were: Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Guam, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaya, Netherlands New Guinea, New Zealand, Philippines, Sarawak, Singapore, Papua-New Guinea, Tonga, United States Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, Vietnam and Western Samoa. 20. At the commencement of the Seminar a symposium was held at which the Director of Medical Services outlined the administration of the health services in Fiji; the Nursing Super¬ intendent described the nursing service, and Principals of the Central Medical School and the Central Nursing School respectively addressed the participants on the training of medical students and student nurses in Fiji. 21. Study groups were formed under the leadership of consultants in education, nursing education, social anthropology and educational psychology. The Seminar afforded an opportunity for the participants to compare problems encountered in the nursing services in the various territories and to receive guidance from the consultants in how to deal with these problems. 22. A very full curriculum was prepared; instruction and discussions were related to the following topics:— (1) The basic education of nurses with particular reference to clinical nursing practice. (2) The relationship of hospital and nursing service administration. (For this subject Matrons, Sister Tutors, associated with Schools of Nursing, Midwifery and other health services, took an active part). (3) The preparation of nursing teachers and post-graduate programmes and the relation of such programmes to the requirements of the health services of a country. (4) The preparation of auxiliary nurses and midwives. 23. An opportunity was provided for the participants to observe the functioning of appropriate medical and health sections of the Department associated with projects being discussed. Visits were made to the Epidemiological and Medical Statistics Office, a rural hospital, and a village Infant Welfare Clinic at which the village Women’s Committee assists the visiting Health Sister. 24. Assistant Medical Practitioners’ Refresher Course—The World Health Organization has made arrangements and has provided two consultants for a period of three months to conduct two Assistant Medical Practitioner Refresher Courses of six weeks each, in environmental sanitation, commencing in June in Western Samoa. The Fiji Government is being invited to send selected candidates to this Course. 25. South Pacific Commission—Dr. L. G. Poole, Acting Deputy Director of Medical Services, Fiji, attended as an alternate for the Director of Medical Services at the meeting of the South Pacific Commission Research Council held in Noumea in June, 1955. A close liaison is maintained between the Executive Officer of Health for the South Pacific Commission, and the Director of Medical Services, which facilitates the development and execution of projects in the field of health. Frequent visits are made to Fiji by Research Officers of the Commission assigned to health, economic development and social development projects. The South Pacific Commission Visual Aids Officer had discussions with Nutrition and Public Health Officers of the Fiji Medical Department during her visit in the latter part of 1955. DEPARTMENTAL RESEARCH 26. Filariasis—The data accumulated during the filariasis survey which was extended to cover the period 1944-1955, was so voluminous that it was decided to produce the report of this work in bound mimeograph form in the first instance. Copies of this report have been sent to individuals and organizations particularly interested in the control of this disease. The data presented in this report concerns 1,049 villages and 51 schools located in 83 districts in the Fiji Archipelago. It has entailed the clinical and blood examination of over 70,000 Fijians of all ages and both sexes. Results of various dosages of Hetrazan are also included. It may be possible to further edit and summarize this report to make it suitable for publication in a Tropical Disease Journal. 27. The investigations commenced in 1954 by Mr. C. B. Symes, O.B.E., of Her Majesty’s Overseas Research Service, have continued. This work has shown that mosquitoes other than the Aedes pseudoscutellaris are serious vectors of filariasis in Fiji. This discovery further complicates the control of filariasis by the use of insecticides, as their breeding and resting habits differ from that of the Aedes pseudoscutellaris. Further details will be found in Appendix XII. 28. Demography—Dr. W. L. Vender, Senior Medical Officer, is maintaining his long-term inquiry into the demographic structure of the Fiji race. He is also engaged in the inquiry, sponsored by the Fiji Society, into the special problem of the rate of natural increase among the people of Rotuma.