Cath Lab at CWM Suva
 

Cath Lab at CWM Suva
Our Latest MIMs Project
Peter’s presentation was long overdue. It has been about a month since Col Read, Graeme Moorfoort and Peter Koens returned to Australia from Fiji, where they were members of the five-man MIMs (Medical Imaging Machines) team that replaced a Cath Lab at the Colonial War Memorial ( CWM) Hospital in Suva.
 
The team. From left: Warren Bond, John Battenally, Col Read, Peter Koens and Graeme Moorfoort
Peter began his presentation with a short anecdote:
He had hopped into a taxi at CWM hospital to return to his hotel. The Taxi driver was friendly chatty and very, very happy – and not just because he had a fare!
He told Peter that his brother had (just today) had a pacemaker installed thanks to this wonderful new machine they had at CWM hospital.
Tomorrow he would walk out of Hospital and would return to work within a week.
 
In the first 4 days of operation of the new
cath lab at CWM Hospital
  • 6 people had stents implanted in their coronary arteries and
  • 1 patient had a pace maker implant.
 
7 people received a
new lease on life
in just the first 4 days!
 
The impact this lab would have on the lives of the individual and the family would be immeasurable.
The severe illness and/or death of a breadwinner would inevitably result in extreme  intergenerational poverty, loss of educational opportunities etc. etc.
 
Cardiovascular disease
in Fiji
  • Fiji has the highest death rate from coronary heart disease in the southern hemisphere (World Health Rankings)
  • The Fijian death rate from coronary heart disease is almost double that of nearby countries Samoa and Tonga.
  • The waiting list for cath lab procedures at CWM in Suva is currently around 1500 patients!
 
Before stent                                                                       After stent
 
For more info and images
Peter used a series of video clips to show how this project was carried: from the picking up of the shipping container from the late Suzanne Murphy’s factory to completion of the installation at CWM. To our amusement, he also showed some of the things that had gone a little wrong and which were, of course corrected.
 
Tens of thousands of some of the poorest and most underprivileged people in the world have been diagnosed and treated for cardiovascular disease using the imaging modalities provided by  Rotary Cath Labs.
 
The first of these labs was installed in 2000 in Nepal.
 
Rotary has since installed and helped maintain 11 labs in countries  from as far afield as Mongolia, Nepal ,Sri Lanka and Fiji.
 
 
The LabMedical team