“We try and organise these special clinics every couple of months as the need arises,” she said.

They also organise medical check-ups for Valelevu Hart Home, children of St Christopher’s Home and students from the Hilton Special School in Suva.

She added plans are also underway to open a cardiac screening centre within their premises in April.

“We also have a team of doctors from India, America, Australia and Oman who will be here for two weeks in April to perform children’s congenital heart disease surgeries,” Dr Tappoo said.

Dr Tappoo also mentioned that they are planning to set up a children’s heart hospital next to the current medical centre.

“We do not have a facility like that in Fiji, and we do not have doctors who are trained to perform those surgeries.

“So the plan is to send local doctors to Sanjeevani Hospital in India so they can work in Fiji upon their return.

“At the moment we are only depending on visiting teams to perform those surgeries and it is so expensive to send patients abroad for treatment so we want to open a centre that can cater for the Pacific.”

She added they have finalised the plans and are trying to procure funding for the project. “It is a very big project, worth millions of dollars because it will be a speciality hospital so if there are any agencies who are interested, we are very happy to get funding through these bodies and turn this into a reality,” she said.

Edited by Susana Tuilau

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