THERE is a growing number of liver abscess in young iTaukei men, says Health Minister Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete.
While speaking at the ‘Win Against Cancer’ seminar at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva yesterday, Dr Waqainabete said there was a need to find the cause of liver abscess.
According to the Wikipedia encyclopedia, liver abscess is a pus-filled mass inside the liver and the common causes are abdominal conditions such as appendicitis or diverticulitis due to haematogenous spread through the portal vein.
Dr Waqainabete said if we were going to have a higher rate of liver abscess or liver cancer, then there was a need to find the reason why our iTaukei men were having higher liver abscess and find ways to stop it.
“We all have a role to play. We need to find mechanism to be able to do this,” he said.
Dr Waqainabete said developing a screening program in Fiji had its challenges.
He said Fiji had made significant improvements in health outcomes and that primary healthcare had been quietly well established around the country.
Dr Waqainabete said Fijians should be very proud of having proper primary and public healthcare around the country.
“As we keep on picking up people with NCDs and cancers, we need to ensure that we have a proper pathway to look after them and Government has made substantial investment in construction and upgrading of hospitals and nursing centres,” he added.
