Economy Minister and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum visited the Aspen Medical Hospital in Lautoka on Thursday and met with patients who had undergone open heart surgery.
According to a post on the Fijian Government Facebook page, the A-G’s visit was to see the newly refurbished cardiothoracic units under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
The PPP arrangement between the Fijian Government and Health Care Fiji (HCF) is a joint venture between the Fiji National Provident Fund and Aspen Medical Australia with FNPF having an 80 per cent stake in HCF.
During his visit, the A-G met Fiji’s first open heart surgery patient, 54-year-old Parma Sivam of Nadi who underwent a five-hour operation.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum also met Anant Kumar of Ba who also underwent a heart by-pass surgery and 40-year-old Ritesh Chand of Vanua Levu who had a tumour removed from his heart.
The cost of the procedures was completely paid for by the Fijian Government.
Aspen Medical is also responsible for the management and provision of medical services at the Lautoka and Ba hospitals which fall under the PPP arrangement. The A-G also viewed the new internationally-rated operating theatre.
The Lautoka Hospital is also home to a state-of-the-art computerised tomography (ICT) scanner including a new mammogram machine which is guaranteed to give the most accurate results for the early detection of breast cancer.
