Ana Roko of Sasa Village in Ba now has access to the toilet and bathroom in her own home after University of Fiji final year medical students built her a wheelchair accessible sanitation block as part of their community medicine rotation.
The students say Roko suffered a stroke which resulted in half of her body being paralysed and not being able to speak.
They say they found out about Roko while they were doing community outreach as part of their studies.
The students say they got to know that Roko was not attending her check ups and decided to reach out to her.
Community Health Worker Verenaisi Nawai acknowledged the students for their support in helping Roko.
She says projects like this help empower our villagers and is part of primordial intervention in empowering people to live a healthy and independent life.
The final year medical students also provided eating utensils, mattress, wheelchair and planted vegetables to help the family in sustaining their needs.
Umanand Prasad School of Medicine and Health Sciences Acting Dean, and Community Medicine Coordinator Doctor Samuela Korovou says project like this encourages student doctors to be humble and become better practitioners in the future.
Dr. Korovou says they need to holistically treat patients by understanding the challenges each patient poses.
