Sainiani Boila 
Minister for Health and Medical Services, Dr. Antonio Lalabalavu.
The Minister for Health and Medical Services, Dr. Atonio Lalabalavu, cleared the air on the causes of the deaths of the seven people in Ba, which were not from the diarrhoea outbreak.
Dr. Lalabalavu says there are underlying causes that caused the deaths of the seven people.
This follows claims made that they passed away due to the diarrhoea disease outbreak in Ba last week, including Balevuto, Nukuloa, Nacaci, and Toge.
“I can rest assure the members of this august house that we found out that there are underlying causes for their deaths. We haven’t found any contaminants from the water supply itself, but there has been evidence of contaminants within their own water source, tanks, so for those ones, we are working with the Water Authority on flushing, cleaning and re-filling.
Dr. Lalabalavu says the Ministry of Health is working closely with the Water Authority of Fiji and the National Disaster Management Office on investigations and research to help address the issue.
The Ministry of Health has recorded over 60 cases of diarrhoea, with 12 admissions so far.
