Pasifika Medical Association

Pasifika Medical Association [PMA] team leader Dr Fiona Riddell says, after disruptions caused by Covid-19, ​the team will be restarting vital pacemaker clinics.

"In 2018 we undertook the first pacemaker operations, however these were only replacements as we knew in advance that Tonga did not have a functioning portable image intensifier at the time, which is the X-Ray required in theatre to guide the placement of the pacemaker leads in the heart. 

Kilifi Havea,42, his wife Seneti, 47, and their daughter Frances, 19, caught the contagious virus and were forced to quarantine themselves in the large family home they share with their five other children, whose ages range from 9 to 18.

“There was so much going on in my mind. It was a very hard time,” says Kilifi.

His wife contracted the virus while working as a senior carer at the Rosewood Rest Home in Christchurch, one of the worst clusters in the country. To date, eleven residents staying at the rest home have died from Covid-19.

The Pasifika Medical Association conference was officially opened today in Port Vila by the president of Vanuatu, Father Baldwin Lonsdale.

The president of PMA, Kiki Maoate, says many people were affected psychologically by Cyclone Pam, and the mental recovery process is ongoing.

Dr Maoate says the conference will allow participants to share their experiences on dealing with mental health issues.

It's the first time the biennial Pasifika Medical Association conference is being hosted by a Melanesian country.

The conference officially opens today in Port Vila but for the past two days mental health experts from Australia and New Zealand have led a workshop for local health professionals.

Dr Nick Kowalenko, Chair of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists' Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, says the Association invited them because it recognises the importance of mental health.