With the visit of our Regional Director of British Isles & Chief Medical Officer Dr Dave Gunput, we organized an official town hall meeting for the first time in Mauritius. I first met Dr. Gunput during a meeting at the Ministry of Health on the 13th of September 2019, where we met Ministry officials. It was also the first time meeting other leaders of the organization face-to-face, namely; Mr Ganesha Singaravelloo, Chief Operating Officer, and Mr Rajeev Boodhun, secretary of our Mauritius chapter. After the meeting at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Gunput made himself available to us whenever we could have a town hall meeting organized.
One of my zone’s captains, Ms. Nandita Deenoo, was critical in securing the meeting place L’Agrement St Pierre on Saturday 14th of September, 2019. Other District Managers (DM) were also invited to join the event and Mr. Yuvraj Purusram, the DM of Black River, confirmed his participation. He brought along some other members of his team and offered his help for setting up the necessary audiovisual equipment during the event.
We were some 10 attendees to gather around Dr Gunput for the presentation where he reintroduced the GFCH vision, the talking points and the strategy of the foundation. Having a key member of the foundation was a great opportunity to create personal bonds between members and to reinforce team spirit. This first face-to-face meeting with fellow members of the foundation allowed us to further share our ideas and experiences, which motivated us to move the GFCH’s mission ahead.
Personally, I am not involved in the medical field and not really conversant about diabetes and other health issues. I learnt a lot through my colleagues who are medical practitioners about the real health issues in Mauritius and how they deal with those situations on a daily basis. We all want our close ones to be aware of the complications of diabetes and this is why I helped organize this town hall meeting. In the future we will work together to advocate for the 5-2035 vision nation-wide. Collectively we can achieve great things, we will prevail. Ensam Nou Kapav.
District Manager – Moka