- HEALTH FOCUSES ON ADVANCING MENTAL HEALTH FOR 2015 – The Ministry of Health and Medical Services will advance mental health care as part of its work program for 2015.
- TAGICAKIBAU STARTS AS HEAD OF WESTERN DIVISION – Former Director in the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) Manasa Tagicakibau today started in his new role as the Divisional Commissioner Western following a handing over ceremony from outgoing former acting Commissioner Luke Moroivalu.
HEALTH FOCUSES ON ADVANCING MENTAL HEALTH FOR 2015
The Ministry of Health and Medical Services will advance mental health care as part of its work program for 2015.
Fiji has incorporated its Mental Health Unit into the National Wellness Centre to highlight the fact that wellness must include psychological factors for everyone from children to older people.
The Hon. Assistant Minister for Health & Medical Service Mrs Veena Bhatnagar said, “Psychological wellness is feeling good and functioning well. It contributes to improvements in coping ability, self-esteem, performance, productivity, and living longer.”
“Until now Fiji has been only able to offer care for a very small percentage of people through St Giles Hospital which has focused on mental illness rather than psychological wellness”.
Mrs Bhatnagar further added that the intention now is to move more services into community care so that people can be helped in the community, closer to their own homes and family.
To assist this, the Mental Health Unit intends to train all doctors and nurses in the next 2 years to be able to recognise and care for people at risk of developing mental illness.
A program called mhGAP developed by the World Health Organization has already trained over 200 staff. A recent group to complete the training is Nurse Practitioners who will soon be posted to nursing stations throughout Fiji.
-ENDS-
4. TAGICAKIBAU STARTS AS HEAD OF WESTERN DIVISION
Former Director in the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) Manasa Tagicakibau today started in his new role as the Divisional Commissioner Western following a handing over ceremony from outgoing former acting Commissioner Luke Moroivalu.
Divisional Commissioner Western, Mr Manasa Tagicakibau.
In the presence of senior civil servants from the division, Mr Tagicakibau said the challenges ahead were greater as he had to emulate on the success of the two former commissioners, namely current Assistant Minister Joeli Cawaki and Mr Moroivalu.
“I am a fan of hard work and the challenge is for me to ensure I emulate the success of the two former commissioners, who led the division over the last two years,” Mr Tagicakibau said.
“However, I am sure that I will be able to rise to the occasion to ensure excellence in service as per Government’s Strategic five–year Development Plan.”
The new Commissioner Western said the division was critical towards the nation’s growth and would always ensure that the contributions of the various sectors continue to provide positive returns to government which would improve living standards for Fijians.
“The Western Division a critical arm of government given that some of the most critical sectors are in the division. We have the two major ports of entry – the Nadi International Airport and the Lautoka Wharf and then we have pine, sugarcane, tourism, education, manufacturing, among others so it is prudent to ensure that the services we provide are of the highest level,” Mr Tagicakibau said.
He said that his former role as director DISMAC would provide support to the Western Division.
“I had been working at a national level then and now I am well aware what is required of the divisional offices to ensure a faster response from Government.”
Mr Moroivalu, the outgoing commissioner, will take up his new role as Commissioner Eastern Division and said he looked forward to working in one of the nation’s most important divisions – one that has challenges and many opportunities.
DEPTFO