The Fiji Times, on May 7, 1964 ran a story on AMO (Authorized Medical Officer) Jona Senilagakali who was formerly in charge of the Savusavu Hospital and studied advanced orthopaedics surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital at Melbourne Australia.
During his time at the Australian hospital Jona said that the wide range of clinical experience available at the hospital offered an excellent field for specialised study and research.
Jona studied under a World Health Organisation fellowship.
According to the newspaper article, Jona was part of a 666- bed hospital which was one of the biggest in Australia at the time and had almost 300 honorary medical officers, 25 salaried specialists and 70 resident medical officers on its staff.
It treated about 15,000 in patients and 48,000 outpatients a year.
The report noted that Jona planned to go to the mission hospital at Vellore, India, in late 1964 for further work before returning to Fiji.
One of his special interests was in deformities such as those caused by leprosy in tropical countries and the progress made in treating such conditions.
“Jona was trained at the Fiji School of Medicine and was medical officer at the Labasa Hospital for four years.”
The article read that at that time he hoped that his wife and children would be able to join him in Australia.
In the 1960s the Royal Melbourne Hospital was recognised internationally as a teaching and research centre and was the teaching hospital for the University of Melbourne.
Many doctors from overseas and especially Asian countries spent periods of residence of training there.
“The hospital maintains one resident post which is advertised in different countries in South-East Asia and it provides lecturers who conduct courses in medicine for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians examinations at Singapore each year,” The Fiji Times further noted.
“Other specialists from the hospital also visited Malaysia, India, Pakistan and Thailand to demonstrate and lecture.”
