Ifereimi Waqainabete

Ifereimi Waqainabete studied at the Fiji School of Medicine, now under Fiji National University, graduating with MBBS in 1996.

He was the President of Fiji School of Medicine Student's Association.

During this time, he helped successfully petition for the Autonomy of Fiji School of Medicine from the Ministry of Health.

This resulted in the significant growth of the then Fiji School of Medicine and its ability to petition separately for donor support.

In 2000, as the FMA president, the FMA executives petitioned for success increase in on-call allowances.

It was common for doctors to work 24 hours straight on call and continue to work the next day with an allowance of only $10 on top of their basic salary.

He joined the surgical training program in Fiji and graduated with a Master of Medicine in Surgery from the Fiji School of Medicine in 2003.

After being awarded the Rowan Nicks scholar award in 2003, Dr Waqainabete moved with his family to New Zealand and worked in the position of senior registrar in General surgery at the Palmerston North hospital to gain further experience in surgery.

During this time he was appointed as the Medical Superintendent to CWM Hospital, a role that he served from 2009-2011.

He moved back to Fiji to work for few years, then later returned to Christchurch, New Zealand as an Upper GI and Hepatobiliary fellow at Christchurch hospital in 2012.

He left this role in 2012 to take up further surgical fellowships in New Zealand.

The years working concurrently as the sole Ministry of Health General surgeon and as Medical Superintendent was a busy period for Dr Waqainabete as he also supervised a large cohort of trainee surgeons from Fiji and the Pacific.

During this time, he was notoriously famous amongst his trainees for his 3am or 4am ward rounds.

This would begin from the Acute Surgical ward at CWM rounding through ICU, new surgical wing and Namosi ward.

He would then take a tutorial for the trainee surgeons at 7am or on non-tutorial days, take his trainees out for a coffee, completing all this before 8am and then be seated back in his medical superintendent office by 8.

His senior trainee surgeons would be able to call him back out of office for surgical emergencies if needed and similarly at night.

On his return to Fiji for the second time from New Zealand, Dr Waqainabete commenced work back in CWM hospital as a consultant surgeon.

Soon after he joined the Fiji National University College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences department of Surgery as Associate Professor in Surgery.

It is usual for an FNU appointed surgeon to provide surgical services to the hospital as part of the agreement between FNU and Ministry of Health.

He is the current the Head of Department of Surgery, Anaesthesia and Women's Health in FNU.

Dr Waqainabete is the current President of the Fiji Medical Association and has been re-elected several times in the past.

The following year he worked as Breast and Endocrine fellow at Christchurch hospital in 2013.

On return to Fiji from his first set of rotations to New Zealand, Dr Waqainabete practiced as a general surgeon at CWM Hospital.

in 2016, as the President of the FMA, Dr Waqainabete together with the FMA executives petitioned for and successfully persuaded the Fiji First Government to increase salary for all doctors in Fiji by 50-100%.

This was passed in the 2016 budget and implemented immediately.

Prior to this doctors in Fiji were underpaid and frequently worked many hours over the 76 hours per fortnight without compensation.

Fiji constantly suffered from an exodus of highly trained medical professional leaving to work in New Zealand and Australia, citing remuneration as one of the major factors.

Having experienced the better work conditions of doctors in New Zealand, he is an advocate on safety, well being and preventing burnout of doctors in Fiji.

Dr. Ifereimi Waqainabete is a Fijian politician and Member of the Parliament of Fiji who served as Minister for Health and Medical Services in the FijiFirst government from 2018 to 2022.

Before entering politics Dr Waqainabete was a general surgeon in Fiji and Associate Professor of General Surgery at Fiji National University, former President of the Fiji Medical Association, President of the Pacific Island Surgeons Association, and former Chairman of Fiji Medicinal Board.

He was on leave from his academic and surgical duties to partake in the 2018 elections as a candidate for the Fiji First Party.

Dr Waqainabete is from Moala, Lau in Fiji.

His father was a PWD engineer and therefore his family moved a lot in his early school days.

He attended primary schools at Draiba Fijian, New Farm State School in Brisbane, Australia and at Delainamasi Government school.

He completed high school education from Lelean Memorial, Natabua High School, Labasa College and Nasinu Secondary.

In 2018, at the combined GSA/PISA meeting, the Pacific Islands Surgeon Association held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and elected the board of executives.

Dr Waqainabete was elected as the President of the Pacific Island Surgeons Association, taking over from Lord Viliame Tangi, Chief General Surgeon of Tonga.

At the AGM, surgeons from East Timor and Papua New Guinea also expressed interest in joining PISA which was welcomed by current members.

In his current academic and surgical capacity, Dr Waqainabete maintains close relations with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons a non-profit body that maintains surgical training standards in Australia and New Zealand as well and supports global health initiatives.

The continuing relations led to a historic combined General Surgeons Association Australia meeting with the Pacific Island Surgeons Association in Denarau, Fiji 2018 and was attended by over 340 surgeons and trainee surgeons from Australasia and the Pacific.