The Fiji Cancer Society and Umanand Prasad School of Medicine to partner on various cancer awareness and advocacy efforts

In an effort to create awareness and gain more hands on deck to battle cancer - the third largest killer disease in the country, the Fiji Cancer Society will work closely with a leading medical school in the Western Division.

Fiji Cancer Society CEO, Belinda Chan, who recently met with the management team of Umanand Prasad School of Medicine and Health Sciences (UPSMHS) at the University of Fiji Campus in Saweni, Lautoka says she is really impressed with the discussions which took place recently.

Chan says Umanand Prasad School of Medicine has agreed to work closely and support the society in various ways which will include having regular checkups and screenings at the University of Fiji campuses located around the country and participating in Fiji Cancer Society organised health awareness campaigns and other events as volunteers.

She says the school which comes under the University of Fiji has agreed to formalise their collaboration in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), but until that happens sometimes in due course, they have also agreed to immediately start supporting them in their various cancer awareness and advocacy efforts by arranging volunteers to assist them.

The CEO says UPSMHS has agreed to co-ordinate and arrange their staff members and medical students as volunteers particularly for the Western Division which is geographically a much bigger coverage area for them.

She says they are very impressed with the warm reception and the mutual agreement by UPSMHS to support their efforts to battle cancer which continues to rise in the country.

Chan says they have also requested the university to motivate their students to take up further studies in the field of cancer with a view of becoming trained specialists in the areas related to cancer treatments such as oncology.

She says there is a huge demand for highly trained specialists as there is currently only one fully qualified and highly experienced oncologist in the country.

UPSMHS Acting Dean Dr Abhijit Gogoi says the new collaboration with FCS will be very beneficial to all parties concerned including the students who will gain good lifetime experiences while volunteering in the various events.

Dr Gogoi says they are ready and willing to work with the Fiji Cancer Society as volunteers for now until they form a more strategic alliance through an MoU in future.