Reverend Tugi on fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan

The General Secretary of Fiji Evangelical Fellowship, Reverend Simione Tugi, whose daughter is a methamphetamine addict, stresses that there is an urgent need to get a fully fledged drug rehabilitation centre as the facility is long overdue.

While speaking on fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan, the Fiji Council of Churches board member says the longer the government delays the setting up of a proper drug rehabilitation centre, the more drug addicts we will have with no help provided to the addicts and their families.

He says he loves his daughter and he wants the facility set up to help her.

Reverend Tugi says Saint Giles Hospital is overwhelmed and they are not well equipped to deal with the drug addicts.

He says there are only 100 beds at Saint Giles Hospital, and about 300 people need to be admitted straight away, but they don't have that capacity.

Reverend Tugi says the hospital had 7,000 to 8,000 visits last year alone.

He adds the nurses sometimes need the prison wardens to come and help them, or sometimes they call the police officers to come and restrain people who are coming.

Reverend Tugi says the addicts are also ending up on the streets, and you can't do anything about it.

He says you already see the videos from overseas where the addicts are like zombies.

Reverend Tugi says his daughter, his family and the country needs this drug rehabilitation centre.

No, we are not doing enough, but we have the best platform to address these social issues.

This is the sentiment shared by the General Secretary of Fiji Evangelical Fellowship and Fiji Council of Churches Board member, Reverend Simione Tugi while responding to a question on fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan if the church is doing enough to tackle the social issues facing the country.

He says Fiji proclaims itself as a faith nation, but this does not connect well because our social issues are really bad.

Reverend Tugi says he partly blames himself and questions whether the church is relevant because if our spirituality goes up, our social issues must go down.

He adds church leaders should be trained to attain knowledge on these social issues so they can address them on the pulpit.

When questioned if the churches in communities are failing, such as the community at Mead Road Housing in Nabua which is known now for the peddling of methamphetamine openly, Reverend Tugi says unfortunately, if people attend a church service, they will not hear any social issues being preached by the minister.

General Secretary of Fiji Evangelical Fellowship and Fiji Council of Churches Board member, Reverend Simione Tugi is urging the public not to take herbal medicine but to get tested if they have symptoms of HIV.

While speaking on fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan, Rev. Tugi says Fiji has about 121 cases of HIV per month and about 4,000 people are living with HIV in Fiji right now.

He says because of the stigma, a lot of people are afraid to get tested as they will be labelled as a HIV person and disowned by everyone.

Rev. Tugi says getting tested for HIV is quick as it can only take 15 minutes.

The HIV Taskforce Committee member says people should not go for herbal treatment as it is not medically certified.

While speaking on his assessment, Rev. Tugi says there wasn’t a lot of attention given to drugs in previous years and the Government then had said that it was not widespread.

He disagreed with the previous Government’s stand.

General Secretary of Fiji Evangelical Fellowship, Reverend Simione Tugi believes that our patriarchal tradition and culture are contributing factors to domestic violence and the abuse of women and children.

While responding to a question on fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan if we are doing enough to tackle the social issues occurring in the country, Rev Tugi says in terms of violence against women and children, we are the highest in the Pacific and the fourth worst in the world.

He says the Vanua and the church should come in to tackle this with the government's help.

Rev. Tugi says there is a very good structure in the church system where it has the men's, women's and youth departments.

He adds that it is not a good picture for Fiji and the Pacific because every year, the number keeps increasing.

Rev. Tugi also urges the Government to provide expert advice to the church Ministers and Pastors so they can know how to go about creating awareness on the issue.

Watch the General Secretary of Fiji Evangelical Fellowship, Reverend Simione Tugi on fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan.