Results for Vaiola Hospital

Time has given Tonga a great opportunity to prepare itself for the virus and any cases that it might produce. The question is, has this time been used wisely and with urgency to prepare Tonga for the future risks? Those risks, however small, exist even now. Aid money is coming in. Using that to build up the capacity of the health system now means that this can be kept for the future. Wouldn’t it be great if Vaiola were to have a state-of-the-art five-bed ICU that can treat anyone who needs that level of care even after CoViD-19 abates? The staff can do it, if only the facility is there. And it could be. And so we await the arrival of the virus. 
I hope Tonga is well prepared when it does.... - Dr Russ Schedlich

Tonga’s two weeks isolation from 23 March, in an effort to stop the CoViD-19 from entering the country, is buying time for Health authorities to prepare for a possible influx of the deadly virus when borders re-open. But there are mixed reactions from the community while Tonga remains in isolation from the world.

Tonga does not have any cases of coronavirus COVID-19 the Vaiola Hospital confirmed this evening. A doctor said that the second test on a person with pneumonia that was sent to New Zealand on Saturday had returned a negative result today.

When Dr Duke Mataka became Tonga’s Ophthalmologist in 2018, he filled a post that had been vacant for a decade following the departure of Dr Afu Taumoepeau. Last year alone they carried out 500 operations, mainly cataract treatments.

Only one baby was born on New Year’s Day, welcoming the new decade, on Tongatapu at Vaiola Hospital. Siokatame Mataele Po‘oi made his entrance into the world at 11:24am.

A team of 35 medical professionals from Open Heart International (OHI) in Australia are currently in Tonga performing open heart surgery on locals with rheumatic heart disease. The lead surgeon stressed that Tongans need to try and prevent acute rheumatic fever, a disease that occurs from having tonsillitis that is not treated with antibiotics early enough.

Training is being held at Vailoa Hospital to update medical staff on endoscopy, a non surgical procedure used to examine one's digestive tract.

A team of around 50 medical staff from different countries, including Australia and New Zealand, will volunteer their services to treat Tongans with heart conditions at Vaiola Hospital from September 3-21. Dr Siaosi ‘Aho said healthy Tongans can assist by visiting the hospital to donate their blood. “We need to increase the blood bank before the team arrives and we really need blood donors.”

Free medical services by Chinese medical teams are being provided in Nuku’alofa, under a two-year volunteer program that began last year. By Eleanor Gee