Fight against NCD's costs $406M a year

Participants of a workshop focused on care givers and patients with diabetes have been told by President, Jioji Konrote that the government is spending a lot money in treating sick people.

Konrote says the government spends about 406 million dollars annually on the treatment of non-communicable diseases and related ailments.

He says the Ministry of Health statistics currently reveal that almost one in every three Fijians are being diagnosed with diabetes which is equivalent to about 30 percent of the population.

A report by the International Diabetes Federation in 2017 highlighted that 15 percent of the adult population in Fiji is suffering from diabetes.

The report also pointed out that the proportion of deaths due to diabetes in people under 60 years in Fiji was 53 percent. It also said that the number of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes in Fiji was 31.  It also estimates that the proportion of undiagnosed cases in 2017 was 53 percent.

Three lower limb amputations are conducted in Fiji everyday.

348 diabetes amputations were carried out last year of which 216 are males and 132 are females.

The Health Ministry says there is a diabetes related amputation every 17 hours at the CWM Hospital alone and diabetes related surgeries account for 40 to 50 percent of a surgeon’s work at CWM.