Minister for Economy and Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says he will definitely look into the issue regarding the Decompression Chamber not working in the country.
Questions have been raised by a Savusavu resident in the National Budget Roadshow at Copra Millers Fiji Limited on when the Decompression Chamber at CWM Hospital will be replaced.
Sayed-Khaiyum says this is a concern and he will check with the Ministry of Health.
Fijivillage has been raising this issue with the Health Ministry since March last year.
Questions have been raised on what the Health Ministry is doing about setting up Decompression Chambers in the country as there can be many cases of bends that can also result in death as there is a lot of commercial and recreational diving in Fiji.
Fiji only has one Decompression Chamber in the country at the CWM Hospital, and that has not been working since early last year.
The bends, also known as decompression sickness, occurs in divers when dissolved gases, mainly nitrogen, come out of solution in bubbles and can affect just about any body area including joints, lungs, heart, skin and brain.
It is caused by the formation of bubbles of gas that occur with changes in pressure during diving, and if not treated, can lead to death.
The process to fix it is called Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy which is the medical use of oxygen at a level higher than atmospheric pressure to address bends.
The equipment required consists of the pressure chamber, and a means of delivering 100% oxygen.
The Decompression Chamber is also used as one of the ways to facilitate healing in severely infected wounds, especially those linked with diseases that result in impaired blood flow to wound sites as in Diabetes.
The Ministry had earlier stated that in the absence of the Decompression Chamber, other ways of managing these wounds will have to be relied on.
Legend FM News has contacted the Health Ministry again. We are waiting for their response.
