Transcript
Diabetes Fiji is a local NGO formed to help address what has been described as a disastrous situation.
Its chair Taabish Akbar says it is a huge problem in Fiji.
"With close to 20 percent of the population being diabetic. If you take some figures like from the WHO, (World Health Organisation) they reckon there is 33 percent of the population that is diabetic. So it's somewhere in between."
The Professor of Surgery at the National University, Eddie McHaig, says a non-communicable disease crisis is longer an apt description of the situation.
"It's not something new. Our diabetes rate is increasing. We keep hearing about it and we all tired of it, the NCD crisis but its not a crisis it is a tsunami and its hit us big time."
Professor McCaig points out he has been warning about the impact of diabetes for decades.
"I could have given this same talk to you 20 years ago, and I have given it 20 years ago. Before we started the diabetic hub, I said that if we let things go we would be a population of blind, one legged people."
He says he made suggestions to the government which went unheeded.
"Introduce into schools early, how to eat, how to behave, how to exercise. Ministry of Labour I suggested that we have a weight restriction and certainly with renewal of contracts, if you have gained too much weight you don't get your contract renewed. The Armed Forces, the Police, but obviously some people we were being too radical."
But Fiji's Minister of Health says regional governments are taking the issue seriously and have experience in dealing with large scale problems.
"The Ministers of Health around the Pacific, they're very mature, they're very wise, they've been here for long periods of time. They have faced world wars. They have faced epidemics and now NCDs."
Ifereimi Waqainabete says on a national front his government will be looking at subtle changes.
"Where we take services right down to the people, so instead of a patient being found on a remote island and having to travel by sea for three or four days to be able to get to the mainland to have treatment. Why can't we get the treatment to them? That's the next subtle change."
Taabish Akbar says one thing the government has done is introduce and increase their sugar tax which he calls a 'sin tax'.
"It's your choice and we cannot take the choice away from you but the reason that the tax is on is that it is not good for the health and it is counterproductive for the country as well because we are spending so much on health. At present at least 50 percent of our patients in the hospital are diabetics. "
While amputations have remained high, Mr Akbar says there has been a slight change.
"In Fiji we have about three amputations per day which is about 1,000 amputations per year. While the numbers have not drastically come down, we have seen that the size of the amputations has reduced from a limb to a digit."
Mr Akbar says this may be a sign that people are getting the message about seeking treatment early but more collaboration among agencies and work needs to be done.
