TWO teams of specialists from India will arrive in the country over the weekend to perform surgeries from next week.
One of the teams will perform open heart surgeries at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva while the other will do hip and knee replacement surgeries at the Lautoka Hospital.
Sahyadri Specialty Pacific Hospital Ltd (SSPHL) Fiji is bringing the specialists under its joint venture agreement with the Ministry of Health and Medical Services.
The company has been bringing specialists from India since 2012 to provide super specialty treatment in Fiji at a cost that has been fixed by the ministry, which collects the payment from patients.
SSPHL Fiji director Professor Manu Munibhargav said preparations were going well for the open heart and joint replacement surgeries which were scheduled to start on August 14.
Open heart surgeries are scheduled to be held for two weeks and joint replacement surgeries for one week.
Prof Munibhargav said there were some bookings for the surgeries but it would be good to get a bigger number of patients.
Under the joint venture agreement, SSPHL has to perform 40 open heart surgeries in the country every month.
In the last visit in May, the team led by senior cardiac surgeon Dr Chandrashekhar Kulkarni performed some complex heart surgeries.
Dr Kulkarni had said then that the types of cases were getting bad now compared with when he first started coming to Fiji to perform open heart surgeries.
People interested in the open heart and joint replacement surgeries can contact the SSPHL team via email – pacifichealth2000@gmail.com.
