Minister opens Primary Care Stress Management Clinic

03/05/2011

The Minister for Health, Dr Neil Sharma officially opened the Primary Care Stress Management Clinic at Samabula Health Centre this morning.

The clinic is a first of its kind to service the people of Fiji.

“The huge problems of non-communicable diseases that confront us in the form of obesity, hypertension excess smoking, heavy drinking of alcohol and diabetes have a close relationship to psychological stress and may present in primary care clinics rather than in mental hospitals,” Dr Sharma said.

“The Fiji School of Medicine and the Samabula Health Centre therefore decided two months ago to open a clinic in Samabula to provide a service to those suffering from emotional stress.”

The clinic has started teaching on the psychosocial and family problems that contribute to stresses in people in Fiji and added a new dimension to teaching of medical students in their understanding of human problems.

Dr Sharma said post-basic nursing students of psychiatry would help out in this clinic.

The clinic will provide training to Fiji National University medical students.

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Minister for Health Dr Neil Sharma, Dean of the School of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences Ian Rouse and Professor Deva outside the newly opened primary care stress management clinic at Samabula Health Centre