Children diagnosed with Cancer from other Pacific Island Countries will soon be referred to Fiji for treatment and this is expected to become more common in the future as it would be cheaper.
President Major General Retired Jioji Konrote says Fiji has two capable child cancer centres located at the Lautoka Hospital and the CWM Hospital in Suva to help these patients.
Konrote says Fiji has also demonstrated the ability to deliver more intensive treatment regimes for those cases that had been identified as non-treatable for any Pacific nation.
”Fiji has established a twinning programme with the Christchurch Paediatric Oncology Centre in New Zealand. The twinning programme that was established in 2008, continues today with a weekly teleconference with the Christchurch Oncology Unit in New Zealand providing our Paediatric Oncology Unit with expert advice. The Paediatric Oncologist from Christchurch also makes site visits at least twice in a year to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital, Lautoka.”
He adds despite the eighty percent survival rate of childhood cancers in developed countries, up to eighty percent of most children in developing countries will die due to the lack of proper medical care.
August has been established as the child cancer awareness month.
