NANISE NEIMILA
“Communication is vital in this digital era that we are part of and when I was posted here back in 2017 it was an opportunity to serve and coming from Sigatoka to rural setting with no connectivity at all was new for me.”
These were comments made by the staff nurse of Lagi Nursing Station, Vasemaca Toga as she shared her experience while serving in the rural part of Cakaudrove.
“All in all, it has been an interesting journey with the struggles of not being able to talk to my family and at times it was hard but with the installation of this satellite internet connectivity I can call anywhere within the comfort of my home via Facebook or FaceTime with my family back in Yavulo, Nadroga.”
“With the connectivity we are able to send timely reports to our headquarters without any delay with just a click of a button.”
Lagi Health Centre was one of the health centres that was connected through the Northern connectivity programme which allows them to access medical information and other online services on a reliable high speed connection, ending years of struggles to connect with the world and the rest of Fiji.
Attorney-General and Minister for Communications, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, highlighted the duty of the Government to put all Fijians on a level playing field.
“Students in the rural areas of Fiji deserve the same access to internet connectivity as those in Labasa or Suva. Today, we’re bridging that divide and connecting these young people to the rest of Fiji, and the opportunities of reliable internet access.”
“Over 40 sites in Vanua Levu now have access to the internet; they include schools, health clinics, police posts, and a variety of other places. In some schools where there are no internet or mobile connectivity, we have set up community Wi-Fi so that villagers can come to the school and use their phones to access the internet.”
The A-G highlighted that the Government has now connected Laqi Health Centre and Dogotuki Nursing Centre so the nurses actually have access to the internet.
“We gave them screens, we gave them web cameras, and some of them were also given IT phones. A lot of these nursing stations do not have doctors.”
“So, for example, the patient can sit in front of computer with internet in a remote location, this is a very basic type of telemedicine they can have with the Labasa Hospital where doctors can see them.
-ENDS-