Fiji
Report - Lautoka
FEBRUARY 2006
OUR
TEAM
Dr Stuart Myers
Dr Argus Kadir
Dr Richard Connelly
Mrs
Emilie Myers
Sister Jenny Barrie
Sister Sarah Armstrong
BACKGROUND
Lautoka is sited in the western side of Viti Levu, the largest island
in Fiji. It is 25km north of Nadi International Airport. The city is surrounded
with the Pacific Ocean on the western side and sugar cane and pine trees
on the other sides. The city has a population of 60,000. The Hospital
services half of the Fiji Island population. Lautoka is the Sugar City.
Sugar cane is the major industry of Fiji. The Lautoka Sugar Mill employs
about 1300 people and majority of them are residents of Lautoka. There
are also a number of other industries such as timber, pine chips, garment,
distillery, brewery, steel and fishing. Lautoka city once had 120km of
sealed roads. Now they are very moth eaten and poorly lit at night. Traffic
travels at excessive speeds to what the tarmac can hold. The town does
have proper drains, well planned subdivisions and buildings constructed
to the local building standards.
HOSPITAL
Lautoka
Hospital is a four storey building built under British Government Aid
in the 1950’s. Normal hours of operation are 8.00am to 4.30pm daily
and emergency services are open twenty four hours. There is an Ambulance
service. Medical care facilities available include surgical, dental, outpatient
and inpatient services. The Hospital has 375 beds. The city also has a
large semi public clinic (Bayly Clinic) and twelve private medical practitioners.
There are five pharmacies in town.
HOSPITAL
FACILITIES
2 x OPERATING THEATRES:
There is limited antiseptic for scrubbing
1 x SMALL PROCEDURES THEATRE
ICU HAS 3 x BEDS: There are X-ray
facilities, but no CT, MRI, Bone Scan or nerve conduction investigations.
Patients requiring these are waitlisted and travel four hours to Suva.
SPECIALISTS AT THE HOSPITAL:
Orthopaedics, Ophthalmology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology and General Medicine.
2 x ORTHOPAEDIC CONSULTANTS:
Dr Joeli Mareko, Dr Jemesa Tudravu
3
x RESIDENT REGISTRARS: Dr Pauliasi Bauleka, Dr Pita, Dr
Mark
PHYSIOTHERAPY DEPARTMENT:
There is a 10 strong team led by Caroline Taylor, with a well
equipped Gym and hydrotherapy pool. There are no Occupational or Speech
Therapy services.
4 x ORTHPAEDIC WARDS:
One male, one female, one paying/private, and one paediatric. There
are plans to have a combined Trauma ward in 2006, mixing male and female
for the first time, and creating a separate male and female diabetic ward.
PROJECTS
Bali Training
Program
Cook Islands
East Timor Project
West Timor Report
Fiji
- Labasa
Fiji
- Lautoka
Fiji
- Suva
Fiji
- Suva and Lautoka
Kiribati
Papua New Guinea
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tongan Footclub Program - 2007
Tuvalu
Vanuatu
