Dr. Tukuitoga new President of NZ College of Public Health may not be able to lead the Niue health audit
Dr. Colin Tukuitonga is the President-elect of the New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine and will officially take over the role from 1st September this year. Dr. Tukuitoga is the first person of Pacific heritage to be elected president of the New Zealand College of Public Health.
The New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine is a professional group for doctors working in public health. They set standards, train new doctors in public health, and advocate for health and well-being.
He is also supposed to lead the NZ Ministry of Health team to audit the Niue health system in preparation for the two-way QFT with NZ, but he may not be part of that team if the team have to be in Niue for four weeks.
Dr. Tukuitonga told BCN news that unfortunately the strict conditions set by the Niue government for the team to be quarantined for two weeks is making it very difficult for him to help lead this team.
He said that while he’d love to be in Niue for four weeks it’s just not practical with his other work commitment.
He told BCN news that he is fully vaccinated and low risk and the strict requirement for the team to quarantine for two weeks will mean he will have to forego this opportunity to help Niue.
Dr Colin Tukuitoga was the team leader when the NZ Ministry of Health conducted the audit for the Cook Islands back in July. He said they were not in quarantine and were there from the 27th July until 10th August.
At that time when he led the team in the Cook Islands Dr Collin said he was not vaccinated.
The NZ based Dr.Tukuitoga says that if the Niue government exempt him and this team from the NZ Ministry of Health from quarantine then he will be more than happy to lead this team and conduct Niue’s health audit working towards a two way QFT with NZ.
Dr. Tukuitoga is well qualified in his new role as the President of the NZ College of Public Health Medicine. He is an experienced GP and Fellow of the Royal NZ College of GPs. He has a Master of Public Health from Sydney University and completed the training requirements for specialty registration in public health medicine.
Dr. Collin Tukuitoga has held a number of public health roles with the University of Auckland, Northern Regional Health Authority and other regional organisations.
He was the Director of Public Health for NZ, before joining WHO as Head of Surveillance of Chronic Diseases.
He was the Chief Executive of the NZ Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs before joining the Pacific Community (SPC) as Director General.
In March 2020, he was appointed the inaugural Dean Pacific and Associate Professor of Public Health in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland.
