A donation of $650,000 was given to the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha of Fiji during Rajendra Foodtown Supermarket’s 60th anniversary and founder Rajendra Prasad’s 80th birthday celebrations.
The donation will finance the establishment of the University of Fiji Clinical Medical Health Centre project in Saweni, Lautoka, scheduled for completion in 2026.
Special projects manager Kamlesh Arya said discussions on the project began four years ago.
“Mr Prasad had agreed to sponsor by giving us a donation,” Mr Arya said.
“Now he has confirmed it with a cheque of $650,000.
“The idea behind this project is that we provide medical services to the rural community, in collaboration with the school of medical science at the University of Fiji.
“We are elated and this is the third time that Mr Prasad has helped us.
“They also bought us a land for the university where the library and medical school is located.
“And in that building, we will now have a medical centre.”
Mr Arya said the project would benefit the medical students for practical work.
“The public will also have medical consultations.
“We intend to include in the building a dialysis centre, as well as a diabetes awareness room and also to see how best we can serve the community in terms of medical needs.”
Rajendra Foodtown traces its humble beginnings to 1964 in Lautoka, when the then 20-year-old Mr Prasad, a grandson of an indentured labourer who migrated to Fiji in the early 1900s from the Indian city of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, decided to break away from traditional cane farming.
With 500 pounds he borrowed from his father, Mr Prasad and a cousin began operating their small retail shop, which has now grown into a supermarket empire comprising seven major outlets in Ba, Lautoka, Namaka, Suva, Nabua, Valelevu and Nausori.
