Health Minister Dr. Ifereimi Waqainabete

Health Minister Dr. Ifereimi Waqainabete has confirmed there’s a sudden surge in Acute Febrile illness in the Central division.

The illness occurs when fever develops suddenly; specifically, the body temperature rises above 37.5 degrees Celsius

Dr. Waqainabete says this is affecting people living in the Lami to Nausori corridor.

He says this has resulted in a sudden rise in the number of outpatients being seen and treated at medical facilities.

“On Tuesday evening, I went at 7:30 pm to the Valelevu health center and there were seven doctors working but still another 60-100 patients were waiting outside and they have been going full on. So the Valelevu health Center has been churning out about 700-1000 patients over a 24-hour cycle.”

In addition to high fever, the illness can be accompanied by headaches, dizziness, sweats, chills, muscle pain, joint pain, and weakness.

The Health Minister says the teams on the ground including the Divisional Medical officer looking after health centers and the Medical Superintendent looking after hospitals are working together in an Integrated Care.

“Patients are coming early even if it’s a small flu so it’s taking a bit of a challenge for us but we will rise to the challenge. Our officers on the ground know what the expectations are so they have got algorithms so they can tell what is likely to be leptospirosis from typhoid to flu and we’re just trying to support one another.”

Dr. Waqainabete says they’re not ruling out the fact that it may spread elsewhere so they’re closely monitoring the Western and the Northern divisions.

The public has been advised to seek urgent medical attention if symptoms persist.

Meanwhile, the Ministry has also implemented a triage system at health facilities where patients who require urgent medical attention will be seen first by doctors and nurses.