Fiji will benefit from the services provided by a team of specialist dental surgeons currently visiting the Pacific region.
FSMed Department of Oral Health Acting HOD, Dr. Leenu Maimanuku said that the team reviewed patients that were treated last year and the results were very encouraging. They also examined over 30 patients today and selected those requiring urgent surgical care. These patients will be treated at the CWM Hospital Operating Theatre over this week.
This is the second year that the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons [RACS] Pacific Islands Program [PIP] will visit the country.
Led by Professor Robert Jones of James Cook University, other team members include Dr Chris Acott [Anaesthetist)] and Dr Sunia Vudiniabola [Specialist Oral MaxilloFacial Surgeon]. Dr Vudiniabola worked as a lecturer at the Fiji School of Medicine, School of Oral Health prior to moving to Australia where he received his medical training and specialist registration.
Funded through AusAid, the program specializes in Oral Maxillofacial Surgery [OMFS] which is a specialist field at the interface of medicine and dentistry; it involves surgical treatment of a wide range of diseases, injuries and defects in the head and neck region and also the reconstruction of the facial tissues lost as a result of a pathologic condition.
Apart from providing specialist Maxillofacial surgery, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons [RACS] team will train local surgeons in this specialist field. This will contribute towards the upskilling of divisional dental officers who are in Suva for this attachment.
The team will work closely with Dr’s Oripa Waqa, Osea Gavidi from the Department of Oral Health, Fiji Schoolof Medicine; Dr’s Vinal Pande, Inosi Salababa and Jiesa Baro from the CWM Dental Department and CWM Plastic Surgery Department.