SERVICES provided to asthma and bronchitis patients are expected to improve with the handing over of 30 nebulizers to the Health Ministry.
Health Minister Doctor Neil Sharma said the ministry required 30 nebulizers which would be used in sub-divisional hospitals and upcoming emergency departments in Suva and Lautoka.
Last year the Colonial War Memorial Hospital recorded 211 cases of asthma from January to July.
The nebulizers were supplied by one of the leading suppliers of medical laboratory products in Fiji, Medica Pacifica SP Limited, and were officially handed over to the ministry this week.
CWM hospital director East Wing and Intensive Care Services Dr Vereniki Raiwalui earlier said the mortality rate for asthma was 18 per cent or 38 of the 211 patients admitted.
He said of the 38 people who died, 27 were iTaukei, 10 Fijians of Indian descent and one from the other race category.
He said the number of patients who died were between 20 years and 70 years and majority of the cases ranged between 40 and 70 years.
Dr Raiwalui said the increase in the asthma cases was largely related to non-compliance of medication by patients.
According to Dr Sharma, a nebulizer is a drug delivery device used to administer medication in the form of a mist inhaled into the lungs commonly used for the treatment of asthma and other respiratory diseases.