Fiji’s Public Service Commission (PSC), which appoints the country’s senior civil servants, has named Dr Aalisha Sahukhan as Permanent Secretary for Health and Medical Services and Saimone Tauvoli as Permanent Secretary for Fisheries and Forestry. State broadcaster FBC News reported the announcement on 8 October 2026.
Key facts
- Dr Sahukhan takes Health and Medical Services, a post FBC News reports had been held on an acting basis until now.
- Tauvoli takes Fisheries and Forestry after more than 25 years in the public service, having joined the Fisheries Department in 1999.
- PSC Chair Luke Rokovada set out Dr Sahukhan’s credentials in the commission’s statement.
- The announcement as reported carries no start dates, no term lengths and no ministerial comment.
Why it matters
The appointment gives Health and Medical Services a substantive administrative head. That ministry is carrying the response Fiji News covered when the government declared Fiji’s national HIV emergency and when parliament legalised needle and syringe exchange — work that runs through the same divisions Dr Sahukhan has led.
Tauvoli’s ministry spans two resource sectors that earn export income and employ coastal and rural communities, and it is the administrative home of Fiji’s forest estate.
What the PSC says about Dr Sahukhan
Rokovada said Dr Sahukhan “brings extensive experience in public health leadership, emergency preparedness and response, infectious disease epidemiology, health diplomacy and health system strengthening,” FBC News reported. The chair added that she “has held significant leadership responsibilities throughout her career with the Ministry of Health.”
Those responsibilities included leading Health Protection, the Fiji Centre for Disease Control, Environmental Health, and Health Emergencies and Climate Change, according to the broadcaster’s account of the commission’s statement. The report does not say when she held each role, or which of them she occupied while the permanent secretary’s post was being covered in an acting capacity.
Tauvoli’s record in fisheries and forestry
Tauvoli’s service spans fisheries management, resource conservation, economic planning and public administration, FBC News reports. His senior posts have included Senior Fisheries Officer for the Central Division and Principal Fisheries Officer for Inshore Fisheries Management and the Eastern Division — roles weighted towards inshore stocks and the provincial divisions where most small-scale fishing licences sit. The broadcaster does not give the years he held either title, or the post he occupied immediately before this appointment.
The economic side of the portfolio
The one figure Fiji News can attach to Tauvoli’s new brief is the government’s FJD$5.2m carbon market plan, which targets a first carbon trade by 2030 and rests largely on forest land now under his administrative charge. Delivering that timeline is a forestry administration task as much as a climate one: it needs measured carbon stocks, landowner agreements and a registry, all of which run through his ministry.
FBC’s report attaches no revenue targets, budget figures or sector output numbers to either appointment, and the PSC statement as reported sets no deliverables for the two new permanent secretaries.
What the announcement does not say
The report gives no start date for either permanent secretary, no length of appointment, no salary figures, and no name for the person who had been acting head of Health and Medical Services. It carries no comment from the Minister for Health and Medical Services or the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry.
At the time of publication Fiji News had not found a separate PSC media release or an account of the announcement from another Fiji newsroom, so this report rests on the state broadcaster’s rendering of the commission’s statement. We have put questions to both ministries and to the PSC — on start dates, terms and the acting arrangement in Health — and those requests were outstanding when this was published. We will update if the PSC issues its own notice, if either ministry or appointee responds, or if a second outlet adds detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a permanent secretary do in Fiji?
A permanent secretary is the administrative head of a government ministry, running it day to day under the responsible minister. Permanent secretaries are appointed by the Public Service Commission rather than elected.
Were any other permanent secretary posts filled in the same announcement?
The FBC News report names only two appointees, Dr Aalisha Sahukhan and Saimone Tauvoli. It does not refer to any other permanent secretary positions being filled at the same time.
What did Saimone Tauvoli do before entering the public service?
FBC News reports that Tauvoli moved into the public service after working in financial services. The broadcaster gives no further detail about that earlier career.
