The demands on the health system are so large that there are not enough people with counselling skills — Dr Mitchell

The demands on the health system are so large that there are not enough people with counselling skills — Dr Mitchell

The demands on the health system are so large now that there are not enough people with counselling skills available.

Those are the words of Doctor Jason Mitchell, the Chairman of the National HIV Outbreak Cluster Response Taskforce during fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan as he says that sometimes people need additional support, which is no different from the support needed by someone living with HIV.

He says the taskforce is focused on increasing the number of counsellors available in the hub centres of treatment clinics around the country.

Dr Mitchell also confirms that there are no counsellors established in these clinics, and their goal is to have at least five counsellors in Suva, three in the West, and three in the North.