Marketing Fiji as a medical tourism destination was on the cards for the Fijian delegation to Jaipur and New Delhi in India led by Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum, in his meeting with the executive vice chairwoman of the impressive Apollo Hospital and Health Services Group, Shobana Kamineni and its founder Dr. Prathap C. Reddy discussed opportunities for an Apollo Hospital in Fiji.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said their meeting was to try to generate interest in Fiji, of having Apollo Hospital coming and investing in Fiji – in a hospital themselves or by partnering with other equity participants either from or outside Fiji.

“Of course the primary reason we want full tertiary care available 24/7 in Fiji is for Fijians, who currently cannot access this type of care,” he said.

“Medical care and medical services is one area the FijiFirst Government recognises needs a major leapfrogging.

“This can be provided in a short period time by the likes of Apollo which not only have the full range of medical services and care but are internationally-recognised and accredited.”

Retirement villages/resorts

By having full tertiary care available in Fiji, it would open up the market for retirement villages and retirement resorts in the country.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said one of the primary reasons we don’t have retirement villages and retirement resorts in Fiji was because we cannot offer full tertiary health care.

“If for example a retiree, who in the retirement village has a heart attack, we cannot have an open heart surgery done on call in Fiji at the moment- the capacity is not there yet,” he said.

“Obviously this will mean that there won’t be investment in retirement villages until we have such medical services available.

“Once we have full tertiary care available and we can also have elective surgeries available, cosmetic surgeries available, it does create medical tourism opportunities. Fiji would be a great place to come and have a procedure and then have a holiday to recuperate.”

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum also discovered a number of areas that Apollo Hospital was offering had much better services and in fact at very competitive pricing

“By having such a tertiary care, it will obviously lead onto a multiplier effect in terms of more investment or new investment,” he said.

“It also means that more of the dollars would stay in Fiji and Fijians would not be going off shore for surgeries and tertiary care.”

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