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SUVA, July 11 (Xinhua) – Diabetes in Fiji announced Thursday that 30,000 Fijians would require eye surgeries in the coming years, according to the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC).
Professor Eddie Mccaig, Diabetes Administrator in Fiji, urged Fijians to get their eyes tested, as more and more young people lose their eyesight because of diabetes.
"We now have a system in which every diabetic should see his eyes, so we examine his retina, we look at his goal and we try to detect it quickly." They go to the community through the Pacific Eye Institute and Fred Hollows Foundation, but as I said, the numbers are huge, "said Mccaig.
Diabetes amputations in Fiji account for 40% of all hospital operations, according to Mccaig, who is also a professor of surgery at the National University of Fiji.
He said that half of the estimated 60,000 people with diabetes in Fiji did not become aware of the disease because they had ignored early signs such as thirst and excessive urination.
Fiji can not afford the high cost of amputations, eye surgery and kidney failure caused by diabetes, he said, adding that about 40% of the surgeries performed in Fiji were meant for amputations only.
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