Ifereimi Waqainabete | |
---|---|
Minister for Health and Medical Services | |
In office 22 November 2018 –24 December 2022 | |
Prime Minister | Frank Bainimarama |
Preceded by | Rosy Akbar |
Succeeded by | Atonio Lalabalavu |
Personal details | |
Nationality | Fijian |
Political party | FijiFirst |
Children | Four |
Ifereimi Waqainabete is a Fijian politician and Member of the Parliament of Fiji who served as Minister for Health and Medical Services in the FijiFirst government from 2018 to 2022. Before entering politics Waqainabete was a general surgeon in Fiji and associate professor of general surgery at Fiji National University,former president of the Fiji Medical Association,president of the Pacific Island Surgeons Association,and former chairman of Fiji Medicinal Board. He was on leave from his academic and surgical duties to partake in the 2018 elections as a candidate for the Fiji First Party.
Dr Waqainabete is from Moala,Lau in Fiji. His father was a PWD engineer and therefore his family moved a lot in his early school days. He attended primary schools at Draiba Fijian,New Farm State School in Brisbane,Australia and at Delainamasi Government school. He completed high school education from Lelean Memorial,Natabua High School,Labasa College and Nasinu Secondary.
Ifereimi Waqainabete studied at the Fiji School of Medicine,now under Fiji National University,graduating with MBBS in 1996. He was the President of Fiji School of Medicine Student's Association. During this time,he helped successfully petition for the Autonomy of Fiji School of Medicine from the Ministry of Health. This resulted in the significant growth of the then Fiji School of Medicine and its ability to petition separately for donor support.
He joined the surgical training program in Fiji and graduated with a Master of Medicine in Surgery from the Fiji School of Medicine in 2003.
After being awarded the Rowan Nicks scholar award in 2003, [1] Dr Waqainabete moved with his family to New Zealand and worked in the position of senior registrar in General surgery at the Palmerston North hospital to gain further experience in surgery.
He moved back to Fiji to work for few years,then later returned to Christchurch,New Zealand as an Upper GI and Hepatobiliary fellow at Christchurch hospital in 2012. The following year he worked as Breast and Endocrine fellow at Christchurch hospital in 2013.
On return to Fiji from his first set of rotations to New Zealand,Dr Waqainabete practiced as a general surgeon at CWM Hospital. During this time he was appointed as the Medical Superintendent to CWM Hospital,a role that he served from 2009-2011. He left this role in 2012 to take up further surgical fellowships in New Zealand.
The years working concurrently as the sole Ministry of Health General surgeon and as Medical Superintendent was a busy period for Dr Waqainabete as he also supervised a large cohort of trainee surgeons from Fiji and the Pacific.
During this time,he was notoriously famous amongst his trainees for his 3am or 4am ward rounds. This would begin from the Acute Surgical ward at CWM rounding through ICU,new surgical wing and Namosi ward. He would then take a tutorial for the trainee surgeons at 7am or on non-tutorial days,take his trainees out for a coffee,completing all this before 8am and then be seated back in his medical superintendent office by 8. His senior trainee surgeons would be able to call him back out of office for surgical emergencies if needed and similarly at night.
On his return to Fiji for the second time from New Zealand,Dr Waqainabete commenced work back in CWM hospital as a consultant surgeon. Soon after he joined the Fiji National University College of Medicine,Nursing and Health Sciences department of Surgery as Associate Professor in Surgery. [2] It is usual for an FNU appointed surgeon to provide surgical services to the hospital as part of the agreement between FNU and Ministry of Health. He is the current the Head of Department of Surgery,Anaesthesia and Women's Health in FNU. [3]
Dr Waqainabete is the current President of the Fiji Medical Association and has been re-elected several times in the past.
In 2000,as the FMA president,the FMA executives petitioned for success increase in on-call allowances. It was common for doctors to work 24 hours straight on call and continue to work the next day with an allowance of only $10 on top of their basic salary.
in 2016,as the President of the FMA,Dr Waqainabete together with the FMA executives petitioned for and successfully persuaded the Fiji First Government to increase salary for all doctors in Fiji by 50-100%. [4] This was passed in the 2016 budget and implemented immediately. Prior to this doctors in Fiji were underpaid and frequently worked many hours over the 76 hours per fortnight without compensation. [5] Fiji constantly suffered from an exodus of highly trained medical professional leaving to work in New Zealand and Australia,citing remuneration as one of the major factors. [6]
Having experienced the better work conditions of doctors in New Zealand,he is an advocate on safety,well being and preventing burnout of doctors in Fiji. [7] [8]
In 2018,at the combined GSA/PISA meeting,the Pacific Islands Surgeon Association held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and elected the board of executives. Dr Waqainabete was elected as the President of the Pacific Island Surgeons Association,taking over from Lord Viliame Tangi,Chief General Surgeon of Tonga.
At the AGM,surgeons from East Timor and Papua New Guinea also expressed interest in joining PISA which was welcomed by current members.
In his current academic and surgical capacity,Dr Waqainabete [9] maintains close relations with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons [10] a non-profit body that maintains surgical training standards in Australia and New Zealand as well and supports global health initiatives. [11]
The continuing relations led to a historic combined General Surgeons Association Australia meeting with the Pacific Island Surgeons Association in Denarau,Fiji 2018 and was attended by over 340 surgeons and trainee surgeons from Australasia and the Pacific.
In 2003 Dr Waqainabete was awarded the Rowan Nicks Pacific Island Scholar award by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. [12]
Dr Waqainabete supports training of Fijian and Pacific women in surgery. During his tenure at CWM as General surgeon and Medical Superintednant,he supported the first three cohort of women in surgery get selected into the Masters of Surgery training program and they have gone to successfully complete the training program to becoming Fiji first group of female surgeons to complete the training program. All three females successfully completed general surgery training and are now branching out into surgical subspecialties in Peadiatric Surgery (Dr Annette Chang),Plastic surgery (Dr Rachna Ram) and ENT (Dr Fane Lord). Since then,more women have joined the surgical training program in Fiji,leading to the first combined sub-meeting of Pacific Women in Surgery and Royal Australasian College of Surgeon's women in surgery delegates at the GSA//PISA [13] meeting in Denarau,Fiji 2018.
Working as a general surgeon in Fiji,Dr Waqainabete some of the surgical load of complications related to non-communicable lifestyle disease especially Diabetes. After performing unprecedented number of lower limb amputations due to Diabetic Foot sepsis,he is frequently in the media to raise awareness on this issue. [14] Similarly,running the breast cancer clinic in CWM hospital,he saw that the breast cancer related morbidity and mortality is high amongst women in Fiji due to delayed diagnosis and late presentations. He is supports raising awareness on Breast cancer and Pinktober Campaign. [15]
In 2018,Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete joined the Fiji First party as a one its candidates for the 2018 general elections in Fiji. Though not on social media himself,his supporters developed a page on Facebook in support with the page generating more than 2000 followers within 10 days. [16]
He resigned from Parliament on 10 March 2023. He was replaced as an MP by Veena Bhatnagar. [17]
Hailing from Moala,Lau,Dr Waqainabete practices surgery in Suva. He is married to Dr Miriama Waqainabete who also went to the Fiji School of Medicine and they have 4 children together. [18]
General surgery is a surgical specialty that focuses on alimentary canal and abdominal contents including the esophagus,stomach,small intestine,large intestine,liver,pancreas,gallbladder,appendix and bile ducts,and often the thyroid gland. General surgeons also deal with diseases involving the skin,breast,soft tissue,trauma,peripheral artery disease and hernias and perform endoscopic as such as gastroscopy,colonoscopy and laparoscopic procedures.
Urology,also known as genitourinary surgery,is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary system and the reproductive organs. Organs under the domain of urology include the kidneys,adrenal glands,ureters,urinary bladder,urethra,and the male reproductive organs.
Ophthalmology is a clinical and surgical specialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. A former term is oculism.
A podiatrist is a medical professional devoted to the treatment of disorders of the foot,ankle,and related structures of the leg. The term originated in North America but has now become the accepted term in the English-speaking world for all practitioners of podiatric medicine. The word chiropodist was previously used in the United States,but it is now regarded as antiquated.
Michael Ellis DeBakey was an American general and cardiovascular surgeon,scientist and medical educator who became Chairman of the Department of Surgery,President,and Chancellor of Baylor College of Medicine at the Texas Medical Center in Houston,Texas. His career spanned nearly eight decades.
Podiatry,or podiatric medicine and surgery,is a branch of medicine devoted to the study,diagnosis,and treatment of disorders of the foot,ankle and lower limb. The healthcare professional is known as a podiatrist. The US podiatric medical school curriculum includes lower extremity anatomy,general human anatomy,physiology,general medicine,physical assessment,biochemistry,neurobiology,pathophysiology,genetics and embryology,microbiology,histology,pharmacology,women's health,physical rehabilitation,sports medicine,research,ethics and jurisprudence,biomechanics,general principles of orthopedic surgery,plastic surgery,and foot and ankle surgery.
Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a surgical specialty focusing on reconstructive surgery of the face,facial trauma surgery,the mouth,head and neck,and jaws,as well as facial plastic surgery including cleft lip and cleft palate surgery.
A medical specialty is a branch of medical practice that is focused on a defined group of patients,diseases,skills,or philosophy. Examples include those branches of medicine that deal exclusively with children (paediatrics),cancer (oncology),laboratory medicine (pathology),or primary care. After completing medical school or other basic training,physicians or surgeons and other clinicians usually further their medical education in a specific specialty of medicine by completing a multiple-year residency to become a specialist.
The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) is the leading advocate for surgical standards,professionalism and surgical education in Australia and New Zealand.
In medicine,a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places,a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before specializing in surgery.
Middlemore Hospital is a major public hospital in the suburb of Ōtāhuhu,Auckland,New Zealand. The hospital has approximately 800 beds. There are 24 operating theatres across two sites.
Boora Narsaiah Goud is an Indian politician in the state of Telangana. Joining in the Bharat Rashtra Samithi political party in 2009 he has won as a Member of Parliament in the 16th Lok Sabha representing Bhongir constituency in 2014 election and lost in 2019.
Fiji National University is a public university in Fiji that was formally constituted on 15 February 2010 by the Fiji National University Act 2009.
Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) on Funafuti atoll in Tuvalu is the only hospital in the country,and the primary provider of medical services for all the islands of Tuvalu. The hospital is located about 1.3 kilometres north from the centre of Funafuti on Fongafale islet.
Ned Abraham was an Associate Professor of surgery at the Faculty of Medicine,University of New South Wales and is a general &colorectal surgeon,a clinical academic and a retired Australian Army Reserve Officer. He has spoken at multiple national and international meetings in four continents and his published articles in general,colorectal and academic surgery have been cited in the medical literature close to two thousand times. He continues to practice surgery in Coffs Harbour,NSW,Australia.
John Rutherford Ryley was an Australian surgeon who studied medicine in Glasgow,where he learned about Listerian antisepsis from Joseph Lister. He emigrated to New Zealand and introduced antiseptic surgery there in January 1868. Most of his career was then spent in Australia. He killed himself at the age of 46.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Fiji is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The first case of the disease in Fiji was reported on 19 March 2020 in Lautoka. as of 3 January 2022,the country has had a total of 55,009 cases as of which 2,417 are currently active and 702 deaths,with cases reported on all divisions of the country. Apart from the COVID-19 deaths,621 COVID-19 positive patients have died from pre-existing non-COVID-19 related illnesses. In March 2021,Fiji became the first Pacific island country to receive COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX initiative with frontline workers and first responders the first to be vaccinated. As of 2 January 2022,more than 600,000 (98%) Fijians have received their first jab of the vaccine and almost 560,000 (92%) Fijians have received their second jab and are fully vaccinated. To date,only the AstraZeneca vaccine,Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine have been deployed in the country. The country have also administered booster shots. Vaccination is mandated,however only to the adult population.
Gabrielle McMullin MB BCh BAO FRCS FRACS MCh is an Australian vascular surgeon,author and gender equality advocate.
careFIJI is a mobile software application developed by the Government of Fiji to assist the Ministry of Health and Medical Services in combating the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Fiji. The mobile app is available on Google Play and the App Store.
The COVID-19 vaccination campaign began in Fiji on the first quarter of 2021 and will continue throughout the year with the goal of vaccinating all eligible Fijians. The government has made it mandatory for all eligible adults to take the COVID-19 vaccines.