TWENTY private general practitioners (GPs) who are members of the Fiji College of General Practitioners attended the Weight Management Symposium held at the Suva Zanana Muslim League hall in Brown St, Suva, recently.
The symposium aimed to build the capacity of general practitioners to take a lead role in addressing weight management by espousing a holistic approach to empower patients to self-management of risk factors through physical activity and nutritional intervention.
Dr Isimeli Tukana, the national adviser for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) for the Ministry of Health and Medical Services during his closing speech advised the general practitioners to move away from disease management and start talking about wellness when dealing with patients visiting the clinic.
He said it was time for medical professionals to look at weight management as an intervention to address behavioral risk factors that were related to obesity which led to diabetes mellitus type 2, cardiovascular diseases that caused stroke, heart attack along with kidney failure and blindness.
According to the Health Ministry’s divisional NCD project officer, Andrew Prasad, it was now time for private practitioners and the ministry to work together to address more on behavioral intervention at community level.
Weight Management Clinic was one of the partners of the symposium, offering intervention programs to help manage NCDs as well as help prevent it.
The symposium was funded through the Health Ministry, along with technical support from Diabetes Fiji and Weight Management Clinic
