Medical
Naqaqa Giving Foundation (NGF) delivers health and medical services to remote communities on Vanua Levu Island, Fiji. Its programs include the Savusavu Medical Centre, a full-time clinic offering round-the-clock, low-cost medical care; the island's only private veterinary clinic, and the only private dental practice in Cakaudrove Province. NGF facilitate a rotating roster of visiting specialists, from psychiatrists to OBGYNs, who treat, teach, and assess local needs. Details on each service follow below.
In 2010 NGF built, staffed and continues to subsidize the first private health centre in Savusavu. A full-time experienced General Practitioner of Medicine is now available to the community around the clock. Doctor’s quarters were constructed onsite to cater to emergencies. Two overnight rooms, two examination rooms and a visiting doctor’s office are part of the new, clean and well stocked facility. The Savusavu Medical Centre established the community’s first private pharmacy.
While this is a private clinic available to all, cost to the public is kept at a minimum.
The Savusavu Medical Centre is the largest NGF project to date.
Savusavu Medical Center
In Fiji 31% of people live in absolute poverty and national assistance programs only reach 1 in 10 of those people. Animals are barely cared for. NGF built and continues to provide a veterinary clinic, the only one of its kind in the region. NGF brings veterinarians from the main island to staff our clinic, providing the only veterinary care on Vanua Levu Island. We arrange neutering for pets and strays, as well as veterinary trips to remote outer islands. Hungry dogs kill livestock and pose health issues to the local community. NGF continues to bring vets to the area, sometimes providing transport and accommodation. A vet's visit is normally less than a week in length, during which time we typically treat over 150 animals with antibiotics, de-worming, flea and tick treatments, as well as various surgical procedures. We do this as frequently as is possible given that there are only a few vets in the entire country.
If you are a vet or a veterinary technician and you want to help our community, please email us.
Veterinary Clinic
NGF has brought specialists to Fiji in the following fields (in most cases, the specialists were the first of their profession to visit the places we took them): Psychiatrist (5 visits), Child Advocate, Natural Birth Specialist, Speech Therapist, Doula (Child & Mother Care), Pediatric Emergency Nurse, Paramedic, Psychotherapist, Acupuncturist, Violence Expert, Impact of Media Researcher/Author, Dietician, OBGYN, Communicable Disease specialist, Organic Farmers, Musicians and more. Every expert opens a new window of discussion and education for the local community and for NGF. Every expert is tasked to treat, teach and review the areas of need as they see them, reporting on how NGF can best help.
If you think you can offer a lot and want to help, please email us.
Visiting Experts
Emergency Relief: This is a wide-ranging area of need that we assess as and when needed. After Cyclone Damon struck Fiji in 2007, NGF worked with the Red Cross, the Rotary Club and Tui Tai to get materials and volunteers to the devastated and very remote island of Cikobia. We also assist with medical emergencies. When NGF heard that a five-year-old Fijian Girl with epilepsy needed life-saving brain surgery we donated $10,000.00 to make it happen. The girl entered the hospital in Melbourne, Australia in a wheelchair. Two months later she walked out, smiling. NGF has funded air fare for the severely ill on many occasions. Our emergency relief is broad in scope.
Clothes distribution: We donate clothes on a regular basis throughout Fiji. The largest distribution of clothing was in 2005, when NGF rented a 2-ton truck to share more than 3,000 garments with seven remote villages.
Eyewear distribution: We source prescription eyewear from New Zealand, Australia and the USA and distribute it in remote and impoverished villages.
Water systems: On many occasions NGF overhauls a village water system to create a constant source of fresh, potable water. For example, in April of 2007, NGF provided material for a water collection system on the island of Yanuca. Rain-gutters, pipes, and large storage tanks were donated by NGF, delivered aboard the Tui Tai ship.
Donated Medicine: Thanks to our volunteers and partners in the USA, NGF is able to source and distribute medicine otherwise unavailable in Fiji. One such example is the 12,000 pre-natal vitamins donated to the Savusavu Hospital.
Flush Toilets: NGF has installed many flush toilets, where previously they were not available.
Wheelchair Program: Anyone in need of a wheel chair can get one from us at no charge. Crippled adults and children who had become used to a life of sitting on the floor all day are now able take a more active role in life.
Dental: NGF has hosted dental clinics, provided dental care, and distributed tooth brushes.
Jazmin Grace Fund: NGF works with Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, daughter of Monaco’s Prince Albert to help impact the lives of local Fijians. Please see: www.jazminfund.org
Many Other Programs
