Chairman of the Public Service Commission (PSC), Martin Mahe, said PSC will appeal against the Supreme Court's decision quashing the appointment of the Director of Curative and Hospital Services, Russel Tamata,as unlawful and invalid.
Mahe said PSC was not satisfied with the candidates recommended for the position therefore, it decided to choose Russel Tamata who was an eligible candidate for the position of Director Planning, Policy and Corporate Services.
The appointment of Director Tamata was done in good faith and for the betterment of the health sector in the country after we cannot find any suitable candidate in this post, he said.
The Chairman confirmed the recommended applicant for the position of Director Currative is Dr. Basil Leodoro and the eligible candidate is Dr. Santus Wari.
However, the rationale behind the Commission’s decision not to choose the two applicants is because both applicants lack the management and administration skills required in this position.
The Commission noted that the two candidates are medical practitioners by profession and are trained for clinical purposes and patient care focus.
Additionally, the Job description and the criteria required for the positions of director curative and director policy and planning are similar, as a result there is no reason as to why PSC could not consider the eligible candidate for the position of Director Policy, in this case Mr Tamata, to be then appointed as Director Curative.
"We (PSC) acknowledged the court's decision but we will be appealing against it.
"Mr Tamata has the right qualifications and seems more ideal to the job, compare to the recommended candidate.
He comes from a clinical background, a nurse by profession; He is a qualified Public Health practitioner graduated at Fiji School of Medicine; and a Masters of Public health with majors in Health management, graduated in Queensland University of Technology (QUT). He has a wealth of experience for over 27 years in Health sector and his last work is with the United Nation Development Program (UNDP).
“The current Commission has a vision to bring change and address the current chronic issues within MOH which has not been addressed for the past years due to poor management of the past leadership” PSC stated.
While the PSC is appealing the Court decision, we wish to inform the Public at large that the Commission still maintain its trust and confidence towards the performance of Mr. Tamata due to his outstanding performance that was assessed through his mid-year review and has appointed him as Acting Director Policy and Planning effective as 15th of October 2019 while Johnson Wabaiat is appointed as Acting Director Curative and Hospital Services and also the current Acting DG MOH.
Photo supplied Caption: PSC Chairman Martin Mahe