Dr Andrew Chan Mow Recognised for Services to Pacific Health

13 November 2018

Le Tagaloa Tugaga Dr Andrew Chan Mow, Clinical Director of SouthSeas Healthcare was recognised recently at the 4th annual SunPix Pacific Peoples Awards for his services to the Pacific in primary health care.

Tagaloa Dr Chan Mow is the recipient of the Health and Wellbeing Award, sponsored by Pasifika Futures, which recognises individuals in the community who strive to improve the health and wellbeing of Pacific People.

The Samoan-born doctor started his career with a scholarship to study in Australia in 1980, and subsequently enrolled at the University of South Pacific in Suva for the Science Foundation programme in 1981. His passion for medical studies earned him a place at Otago University and upon completion of his medical studies there, Dr Chan Mow returned to Samoa to work at the local hospital in Moto’otua, Apia.

Dr Chan Mow migrated to New Zealand with his family in 1991 and served in hospitals in Dunedin, Palmerston North and Auckland. He joined a group of Samoan doctors who established SouthSeas Healthcare Trust in 1999, in response to an unmet need of health disparities for a Pacific population in Otara.

“We commend Tagaloa Dr Andrew Chan Mow for his service to the Pacific families and communities. We are incredibly proud of him for his achievement amongst a group of extraordinary Pacific New Zealanders,” says SouthSeas Healthcare CEO Silao Vaisola-Sefo.

“Tagaloa is an outstanding individual who has worked for many years serving our communities and has made a significant contribution to not only SouthSeas Healthcare but to the lives of many families in Otara and we are so pleased to see him recognised.”

Silao says Tagaloa Dr Chan Mow has so much passion for his work in primary healthcare and SouthSeas Healthcare congratulates him for his commitment and dedication in health to help Pacific families and communities.

Dr Chan Mow acknowledged his mother Lotte for pushing him to become a doctor and his late father Chan Yat Mow for providing the opportunities for him and his siblings. His mother hails from the village of Safune on the big island of Savaii in Samoa and his father from China, immigrating to Samoa as one of many indentured Chinese labourers in the 1930s. He dedicates his award to his wife Rosanna for her unwavering support throughout his career.

Tagaloa Dr Chan Mow has served as a general practitioner in South Auckland for the last 20 years.

The Pacific Peoples Awards ceremony will be televised on the TVONE Tagata Pasifika programme this Saturday 17 November 2018 at 9am.

ENDS

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