Report / Medical Department, Fiji.

  • Fiji. Medical Department.
Date:
[1970]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report / Medical Department, Fiji. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    22/80 (page 14)
    8.2.3. The problem of increasing the mobility of nurses is under constant review and many have already been provided with small vehicles for this purpose. The original bure style ” nursing station sited in the middle of a village, is fast being replaced by well designed clinics with modern living facilities, more conveniently situated with respect to her area and the communications system, so as to provide her with the shortest lines of communications to all areas of her district. 8.2.4. Fast disappearing also, from the nursing scene is the picture of a staff nurse waiting for patients to turn up who have made a late start in the morning. This situation is being replaced by a smart, time conscious, and conscientious nurse who has a schedule of visits prepared by her Health Sister, weeks or months in advance. All this indicates that medicine in Fiji is on the march. 8.3. Hospital Nurses 8.3.1. Fiji’s hospitals have not yet reached the stage of super-specialisation characteristic of developed countries and the number of specialised units is kept to a minimum. However, there is a degree of specialisation among nurses including midwives, theatre nurses and those working in surgical, medical and paediatric wards. The majority of these nurses become highly skilled in their work and in this they are assisted by inservice and formal training pro¬ grammes whether carried out in Fiji or overseas. A reported comment made during the year by the leader of a visiting neuro-surgical team from Sydney has confirmed the view that many theatre nurses in Fiji are of international standard and would not be out of place in major theatre units overseas. 8.3.2. The Department has organised in association with the New Zealand Department of Health, certain programmes of special nurse training in New Zealand, in Hospital Nurse Administration, Operation Theatre Management, as well as in Intensive Care and Paediatric Nursing, and already a planned programme has been arranged for the next few years. The greatest problem in any overseas training programme of this sort is the maintenance of services at home during the absence of the officers concerned, and this applies equally well to the Department as a whole. PART D—THE PREVENTIVE SERVICES 9. STATISTICS 9.1.1. The Department had long realised that subjective impressions can be erroneous and that if comparisons of medical work over the years are to be meaningful, they must be objective. The three commonest sources of statistical data are— (i) the Department; (ii) the Registrar-General; (iii) the Bureau of Statistics. 9.1.2. In this country, it cannot be said that all births and deaths are registered, and this is especially the case in communities separated by long distances from the main centres. However, the percentage of registrations must be reasonably close to being complete. In any case the comparison of data from year to year is perhaps of more value than the actual figures and give sufficient guide for trends to be recognised, problems isolated and priorities determined. 9.1.3. The vital statistics are set out in Tables XV to XIX. The most striking figure is the population increase for the year of 2T per cent, which although encouragingly lower than before, is still too high for the good of the country’s economy. Nevertheless com¬ mendable progress has been made in the control of population growth and this figure has resulted from the vigorous efforts of a large section of the Department. 9.1.4. The overall birth rate of 29-9 per thousand is still too high, but is a major improvement on the figure of a decade ago. The recorded crude death rate of 4-7 per thousand is one of the lowest in the world and reflects among other things, the young population structure, the improved health of the population and fewer deaths from preventable diseases. The net result of this general improvement in health is reflected in the increased life expectancy of all races shown below in Table 9.1.4. and obtained from data prepared by the Bureau of Statistics— Table 9.1.4. Average Years of Life Remaining to Survivors at Specific Ages (1966) Age Fijian M ale Fijian Female Indian Male Indian Female 0 66-99 72-05 65-00 67-05 1 67-34 72-38 66-17 68-02 5—9 64-21 69-25 62-70 64-47 20—24 49-98 55-19 48-40 50-45 50—54 23-52 28-37 22-13 23-69 70—74 1088 14-45 11-82 10-79 Over 100 6-00 7-67 2-40 1-64 9.1.5. Notifiable diseases are reported weekly, as a statutory obligation by all medical officers in the Government Service and by 25 general practitioners. The Departmental notifications are vetted up the line by progressively more senior officers, before being submitted to the medical statistics section for compilation.