The Ministry of Health has announced new changes to the regulation of outpatient and emergency services at Tupua Tamasese Meaole (T.T.M.) Hospital, Moto’otua. 

The Health Ministry announced the changes on Thursday.

Members of the public are advised that there will be a merger of the outpatients and emergency services at T.T.M. Hospital.

The merger will commence from the Christmas weekend and continue until Monday 10th January 2022.

All general outpatients will be seen within the ground floor of the Moto’otua TTM Hospital Emergency Building, where the current Paediatric Clinic is located.

“The Ministry of Health strongly encourages the general public to seek medical attention for minor ailments and medical conditions between the hours of 8am to 8pm – including changing of dressings, renewal of prescriptions,” read the notice.

The Health Ministry said that emergency cases only are to be seen after this time from 8 pm to 8 am.

“The general public is also reminded that as part of our ongoing national campaign against COVID-19, we will be enforcing strict entry only to those outpatient cases who have completed both doses of their vaccination (Pfizer or AstraZeneca),” the Ministry said. 

“The support of the public is appreciated and we urge everyone to be more health conscious and continue to take all other health preventative measures when visiting the hospitals at all times.

Earlier this month, Samoa recorded its second COVID-19 case. 

So far, Samoa has been able to fully vaccinate 104,827 people with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Of this number, 86 per cent accounts for the eligible population with 53,755 males and 51,072 females.

As of the 20 December 2021, a total of 117,020 Samoans have received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the COVID-19 virus which accounts to 96 per cent of the total eligible population with 60,306 are male and 56,714 are female.

Samoa’s mass vaccination started in April 2021 targeting those 18 years of age and above to be vaccinated, while those who are 85 and upwards will be given the chance to decide whether they want to be vaccinated.

For the Pfizer vaccines, those eligible to be vaccinated are children from the ages of 12-17, pregnant mothers and lactating mothers.   

The latest Health Ministry data reveals that 24,704 Samoans have received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine while 17,887 are fully vaccinated with the Pfizer.