THE Hope Clinic in Suva is seeing an increase in the number of patients with non-communicable diseases seeking assistance.
Hope Clinic provides counselling services to patients who seek avenues to change their lifestyle in dealing with their medical problems.
Doctor/physician in-charge at the clinic Dr Akuila Tabuavou said patients with various types of NCDs were visiting the clinic for assistance.
“They visit our clinic because they want us to help them get better,” Dr Tabuavou said.
“Most of them want their own medication, but they don’t take it regularly, and the medication is not controlling their symptoms like sugar and pressure.
“They come here so that we can give them a diet plan.
“We give them a program to follow so that it can help them control or even reverse their diabetes and blood pressure.”
Dr Tabuavou says they have been able to reverse blood pressure and diabetes problems without medication.
“We’ve been able to reverse blood pressure and diabetes without medication, just by changing lifestyle.
“That’s what we do here. We offer different programs for diabetes, blood pressure and weight loss. And these are all evidence-based programs.
“It’s nothing that someone just designed, or someone just came up with. This has been trialled all over the world and these are evidence-based studies and research that we’re doing in this program.”
Dr Tabuavou says they have programs for smoking cessation as well.
“Those who are smoking addicts, they come here to find ways to quit cigarettes.
“So, we run the programs for them, help them quit cigarettes because it contributes to NCDs.
“We all know that smoking cigarettes contributes to NCDs. It’s even written on the packets of the cigarettes.
“They advertise that it causes heart attack, causes cancer and all these other things.
“So, we try to help them quit, but they’re addicted to it.”
Dr Tabuavou said they also run programs for children.
“We do get children that come to the clinic with some very rare diseases.
“Some present with autoimmune diseases, some present with lupus and some present with some rare allergies.
“So, these are the kinds of children that we have programs for as well.”
