Sione Tapa (30 October 1923 – 9 May 2018)[1] was a Tongan politician, physician, and philanthropist.
Tapa was born in Nukuʻalofa and educated at Tonga College and the Fiji School of Medicine.
[2] He worked as a medical officer for the Tongan government from 1955 to 1970, when he was appointed Minister of Health, a role he held until 1996.
[1] He also served as acting Minister of Finance from September 1970 to May 1971 while Mahe 'Uli'uli Tupouniua was studying overseas,[5] and again from November 1972 to January 1981.
[7] In 2012 he donated TP$1 million saved from his ministerial salary to establish a scholarship for students who wanted to study health.