Police Nurse Earns Scholarship To Study Midwifery

A registered nurse with the Fiji Police Force, Joji Matairavula Daunoco, was proud to be a recipi­ent of the Australian Awards Pacific Scholar­ship (AAPS) on Thursday.

He was the only male to be awarded the opportunity to study Postgraduate Diploma in Midwifery at the Fiji National University (FNU).

The 27-year-old is a Fijian of Solomon descent living in Wailoku Settlement outside Suva.

“I have been working as a registered nurse at the Fiji Police Health Centre at Nasese since 2014,” Mr Dau­noco said.

“My wife is also a nurse and I have always had the passion to serve the sick and needy. As a nurse in the Fiji Police Force, I conduct the annual health audit for Police officers, medical screenings, Body Mass In­dex measurements and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) screening.

“My job also involves pointing out risk factors for Police officers, devise diet plans and set up exercise events to control weight and fitness level.”

As a male nurse, he also has his set of hardships and struggles.

“Since I am married with children, the intensity of the education will be immense. But I am grateful to the Commissioner for Police (COMPOL) Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho for allowing me to study,” Mr Daunoco said.

“I would like to thank the Australian Government, the Australian Embassy and other stakeholders for allow­ing and choosing me to be an awardee for the 2019 Post­graduate Diploma in Midwifery.”

Mr Daunoco said the purpose of him applying for the Postgraduate Diploma was to further his education, knowledge and skills.

“I wanted to pursue studies in midwifery because it is important for a registered nurse to deal with and en­hance child health care services,” he said.

“The more knowledge we get, the greater skills and experience we have in terms of equipping us in manag­ing and taking care of female and child health issues.

“As a child grows up the hierarchy we will develop our knowledge and skills. It covers the maternal and child care services.

There is a need for male nurses and the stigma associ­ated with this should not be encouraged.

“Since, nursing is a female dominated profession, there is a need for males to pursue this because there is no harm in trying. My advice to males out there is to pursue nursing as a profession. Not only to work in hospitals but they can also do combat nursing such as nurses in the military.”

Edited by Percy Kean