Chemotherapy To Be Offered At Lautoka Hospital

Chemotherapy will be among the many treatments of­fered at the Oncology Department of the Lautoka Hos­pital.

Attorney-General and the Minister for Economy Ai­yaz Sayed-Khaiyum said both the Ba and Lautoka hos­pitals would be run by the Aspen Medical and Health Care (Fiji) by May.

According to the A-G, one of the conditions is to pro­vide services, including various procedures that cur­rently aren’t available in the country.

“One of the key ones include, for example, open heart surgery. Lautoka will have the capacity where you can access cardiovascular surgeons,” he said.

“At the moment no doctor can carry out an open-heart surgery; the level of experience does not exist. So part of the deal is they’ll provide that when they build a new wing at the hospital.

“They also have operating theaters and personnel who will train our doctors.

“So God willing in five to 10 years’ time we will carry out those procedures. We’re also looking to extend the public health system.

“Also, Chemotherapy will be provided. Now there’s no chemotherapy, services available, people have cancer, etc. So hopefully, we’re looking at May,” he said.