The $610,000 worth of Emergency Response Equipment that was handed over to the Ministry of Health today will enable the staff of the Fiji Emergency Medical Assistance Team (FEMAT) to do their work easily.

While explaining the work of the team, the FEMAT Coordinator Dr Luke Nasedra says that having the equipment readily available will make sure that on the advice of the team’s deployment, the team will just come in, take the equipment off the shelves, onto a transport and they will be off to an airport or a wharf.

Dr Nasedra says that they currently have a database of 120 members however a team will comprise of up to 30 members.

He adds that the donation consists of non medical equipment such as water purifiers, tents, beds, waste incinerators, lights and communication equipment. He says that the medical items such as medication and injections will be provided by the Government Pharmacy.

While speaking at the handing over, Health Minister Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete took us back to 2016 when he received a call for an emergency, however he had said that he could not make it because of the severity of the wind.

Dr Waqainabete says he was later part of the emergency team that was deployed to Vanuabalavu following Tropical Cyclone Winston.

Deputy Australian High Commissioner to Fiji, Anna Dorney says that she is proud and she can not speak more highly of the relationship that has developed between the two countries.