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.

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

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

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

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.

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

[5] 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.

In his current academic and surgical capacity, Dr Waqainabete[9] maintains close relations with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons[10] a non-profit body that maintains surgical training standards in Australia and New Zealand as well and supports global health initiatives.

Working as a general surgeon in Fiji, Dr Waqainabete some of the surgical load of complications related to non-communicable lifestyle disease especially Diabetes.

After performing unprecedented number of lower limb amputations due to Diabetic Foot sepsis, he is frequently in the media to raise awareness on this issue.