The Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Rosy Akbar, wishes to thank the staff, carers and medical officers for their efforts to ensure the safety of the older persons under our care at the Golden Aged Home in Samabula.
"We know, globally, aged care facilities were often the worse effected during the pandemic with high mortality rates. In Fiji, 24 residents and 8 staff became infected with Covid19 and have since had a full recovery. Fiji has quietly achieved a significant outcome (being the full recovery of older residents and staff) and we now have 28 residents in the Suva GAH who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Since the beginning of the second wave of the COVID19 pandemic in Fiji, several individuals, families, communities and institutions have been affected by the virus. For the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, the biggest concern had been the residential homes for the elderly and children and the Ministry had quickly instituted the COVID-19 Protocol for Aged Care Facilities when the COVID-19 virus entered Fiji and put in place new Standing Operating Procedures for all State Homes, which included ensuring the residents and staff were scheduled for vaccination as soon as possible.
In order to ensure the safety of our residents and clients, any staff of the Ministry who has not agreed to be vaccinated has been removed from duties, as per the civil service guidelines.
Minister Akbar also thanked the brave Elders that have taken on the call of duty to be vaccinated. In her message to the general public, Minister Akbar said, “your decisiveness will protect you, your families and the community, towards the facilitation of free movement in public spaces. We also encourage those Senior Citizens still contemplating vaccination, to step forward and be counted in the battle to overcome the deadly COVID- 19 virus. Senior Citizens are also strongly encouraged to actively participate in the validation exercises that are now being rolled out in communities to highlight areas of prioritised needs for Older Persons”.