Participants at the Computing for Medical Professionals Training conducted by FNU’s NTPC.

Fifty-five medical professionals from the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) recently attended a three-day Computing for Medical Professionals Training conducted by the Fiji National University’s (FNU) National Training and Productivity Centre (NTPC).

This is the second group of MHMS Practitioners to be trained following the inaugural training that was held in Nadi which was attended by 37 medical professionals. The Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Permanent Secretary, Dr James Fong, officially opened the training in Suva.

The training is aimed to equip participants in understanding the critical information in collecting data for their organisation and presenting the accurate information to make decisions in the health sector.

Dr Fong said the training was essential for the Ministry of Health and Medical Services to allow staff associated with the data collection and presentation to learn skills that would assist the ministry.

“Data collection is important to the Ministry of Health and Medical Services operations. We need health professionals and anyone working in the health area from all hierarchy to recognise the importance of gathering and presenting accurate and reliable information,” Dr Fong said.

“What we are hoping is that by participating in the training, you can manage, collect, and share data from the different subdivisions and villages and be able to link the information to the Ministry of Health and Medica Services framework. You should learn appropriate methods and obtain tools to collect your data.”

Manager Quality Awards Bob Mitchell said the era of medical informatics and information communication technology are essential tools for the medical fraternity. It empowers health workers to execute digital operations of medical facilities with state-of-the-art medical technologies.

“We are consistently working hard to align our training and consultancies to assist organisations in the country in achieving both the short-term and long-term Sustainable Development Goals of Fiji,” stated Mitchell.

“We at FNU salute the combined efforts of our medical teams and the essential workers in delivering us from the COVID crisis and proactively preparing us for the imminent health-related threats we may face in future.”

MoHMS Permanent Secretary Dr James Fong (left) with FNU’s Bob Mitchell and Praneel Chand at the launch of the training.

“Computing for Medical Professionals is a programme carefully crafted by our highly competent team which addresses the data management needs of the medical workforce of Fiji. The program introduces and reaffirms the need for medical informatics and data management as essential tools to complement the immense efforts of our medical teams and can potentially pave the pathway for medical excellence in Fiji and the Pacific.”

NTPC’s Department of Information Technology Head, Praneel Chand, said as the National Productivity Organization of Fiji, NTPC is mandated to provide in-service training for the productivity of our nation’s workforce.

“This is the first time we are training the medical professionals, and we are grateful that we can contribute to the training needs of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services. Data collection is vital for any organisation, and I am confident the participants would return with a lot of knowledge as we have upskilled them in their area of expertise,” Chand mentioned.

“These skills enable our practitioners to proactively manage projects with international stakeholders and execute informative campaigns on notifiable diseases of national interest.”

NTPC also provides customised training on the requests of the organisation.