THE amount of drugs required to get some Fijian patients anaesthetised for open heart surgeries was high.

Dr Prashant Waghmare, a cardiac anaesthetist from India, said the surgical team found that these patients consumed excessive kava.

However, the open heart surgery team could not confirm whether excessive kava consumption by these patients was a direct cause for the high use of anaesthetics on them.

A team of specialists from India was brought to the country by Sahyadri Specialty Pacific Hospitals Ltd Fiji to perform open heart surgeries at Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva.

The team, led by cardiac surgeon Dr Chandrashekhar Kulkarni, performed open heart surgeries on 18 patients.

“One thing I noticed was that the requirement of anaesthetics in patients here in Fiji was more than what it is in India,” said Dr Waghmare.

“If for example, it takes one dose in India to anaesthetise a patient for open heart surgery, then it was two or more doses for a patient here.

“The amount of drugs required to get them anaesthetised was high and we later found that these patients consumed excessive kava.”

Asked if excessive consumption of kava resulted in those patients’ bodies needing a high dose of anaesthetics for surgery, Dr Waghmare said there was a possibility, adding these patients had rough skin on parts of their bodies.

Dr Waghmare has advised people to try and live a stress-free life, eat food that is high in protein, eat less fatty foods, do regular exercise and get checked up medically.

On his first trip to Fiji, Dr Waghmare was pleased with the operating theatres at CWM Hospital, saying they were of international standard.

“The operating theatre staff and hospital staff were very nice and they took care of us. I just feel like I’m at home,” he said.

“I really love the people here and if I get the chance, then I’ll definitely come back to this beautiful country.”