Tongan Health Society opens new Research Centre in International Genetic Research Collaboration with US based Variant Bio

The Tongan Health Society Board has agreed to the establishment of two new initiatives in 2023:

• Langimalie Medical Centre-Otahuhu (first attachment) Great South Rd
• Langimalie Research Centre Ltd-Wiri (second attachment) Plunket Ave

Business cases were prepared by the CEO specialist Dr Glenn Doherty for the establishment of both.

Dr Doherty said these initiatives were a lot of work to get across the line but have been considered carefully by the Board and its advisors. Both initiatives align with the Society’s strategic goals around strategic partnerships, research, collaborations and innovation and leadership in primary care.

Tongan Health Society won General Practice of the Year in the inaugural NZ Primary Care awards in 2020. Board Chairperson Dr Maika Kinahoi Veikune said the new initiatives were aligned with capacity and capability building in the areas of service expansion and innovation to address health complexities in the Tongan community.

He also said that this was one of the most exciting initiatives in the history of the Society.

Negotiations for the sites and the leases have now been completed and are now fully executed with fit outs to be complete over the next 3-5 months.

The Society has signed a multi-year agreement in an international collaboration with American based (Seattle) company Variant Bio to focus on genetic research in the Tongan community in the areas of:

• Chronic Kidney Disease
• Gout
• Diabetes

The study is aimed to develop novel therapeutics for Tongan clients in those chronic condition cohorts. CSO and Variant Bio Co-Founder Dr Kaja Wasik said “This protocol is thoughtful and incredibly comprehensive. As far as I am aware this will be the most comprehensive project of this sort performed anywhere in Oceania and I am very proud to be a part of it and really looking forward to when it starts.
Dr Ofa Dewes has been appointed as Director of the Centre and Dr Glenn Doherty as Medical Director.

Staff will be recruited and based at its M20 Business Park site in Wiri. Dr Ofa Dewes said that fostering pacific researchers into a Tongan based research centre to support people into pacific research was a fundamental part of the focus of the unit that the Board agreed to.

THS is the only primary care provider in NZ that has an adjunct research centre and international partnership of this kind.

Dr Doherty said these are very exciting times for the Society to expand its work programme and consolidate and develop its existing research portfolio in initiatives and areas that would have been only dreamt about in the past.
Dr Doherty said that other research initiatives with the University of Auckland Otago are also underway.

Three other research studies will also be housed in the Wiri research site and will form part of the formative research portfolio that the Society will undertake.

In addition to the new Centre the THS Board have agreed to establish a new medical centre in Otahuhu. Dr Doherty said that a significant number of its clients were living in South Auckland and that the new clinic would improve access to existing and new clients.

A largely Tongan clinical team will be based at the new clinic and wrap around social services and allied health professionals will also complement the team consistent with the Society integrated models of care.

Dr Doherty said that much of the disease and economic burden in pacific health are clients and families domiciled in South Auckland. The health reforms were an opportunity for HNZ to provide meaningful and systemic changes to address those needs through pacific providers. Many models are being considered but he warns that there needs to be careful consideration around procurement, ethnic specific approaches, and locality prototypes as one approach does not fit all given that pacific peoples live in diverse realities and require different approaches to address their health needs. He says not one shoe fits all.

Fundamental to any new contracting models was the need to ensure that providers are funded also to address the socio-economic determinants of health and well-being, that procurement takes account of the need to build in overheads as a fundamental contracting principle and that there is meaningful co-commissioning and intersectoral collaboration in the procurement process. Also that economic uncertainty, inflation and the impact of this on clients, providers and families is factored in to future contracts.
The new clinic will be fitted out over the next 5 months and is aimed to open in March 2023.