A medical coordinator believes there is a need for more outreach programs in rural areas.

Sai Prema Foundation during their recent visit to Namara District School in Rewa picked up a lot of new cases where children have been diagnosed with heart diseases.

Medical Coordinator, Dr Krupali Tappoo says a total of 75 children were screened at the village and four children were diagnosed with Rheumatic Heart Disease while one with congenital heart disease.

In two earlier camps five children less than sixteen years old were diagnosed with Rheumatic Heart Disease and congenital heart disease.

“Dr. Maryanne Kora’ai – a Pediatric registrar from CWM Hospital, she came with our team and did about 75 echos, echoes is basically screening of the heart and out of the 75 echoes that she did there was one child, four year old who was diagnosed with congenital heart disease. Now this child will need to be re screened when we have the visiting teams in April because this child will more likely need surgery. She also picked up four cases of Rheumatic Heart Disease.”

She says in some cases children do not show any signs of having these heart diseases and she’s encouraging parents to take advantage of such screenings or take their children to the hospital or nearby medical centres.

The Sai Prema Foundation’s “Health On Wheels” is a medical outreach program, in association with the Ministry of Health, for rural Fijian communities.