Kusum Lata was the first patient to undergo the procedure at the hospital. Photo: Shalendra Prasad
Fijians in need of coronary artery bypass surgery do not need to find upto $50,000 and travel to India anymore, the founder of Pacific Specialist Healthcare Hospital (PHS) says.
Located in Fiji's tourist town Nadi, PHS has opened its state-of-the-art 100-bed hospital, complete with a fully equipped cardiology department.
Its founder and director Parvish Kumar said the hospital is offering a "get treated now, pay later" incentive for patients who are going through difficult financial situations.
"The important thing is to save a precious life, and, in that case, money becomes a secondary matter," Kumar said.
"Our priority is to save the patient, and we can work out an acceptable plan for them to pay us later in instalments to ease the respective patient's financial burdens.
"This will be screened on a case-by-case basis, and we will definitely go out of our way to help patients who genuinely deserve the offer."
PHS cardiology surgeons and specialists performed their first open-heart surgery on 11 November.
Kusum Lata, 61, from Lautoka was the first patient to undergo the procedure at the hospital.
She received a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) that was carried out by a team of highly trained Cardio Thoracic specialists.
Lata was discharged on Friday after her surgery without complications.
"I can't believe that just after five-days of having an operation, I am going home to unite with my family," Lata said during her release on Friday.
"I wish to thank the management and staff of PSH for taking good care of me and highly recommend them to anyone who is going through the pain that I went through prior to my successful surgery," she said.
"Doctors in Lautoka told me that due to my complications, they cannot perform a triple-bypass surgery locally and I was told to raise $50,000 to visit India with an accompanying relative or caretaker.
"At that point, I had lost all hope but was quickly referred to PSH by a relative."
"I came and enquired and was told that my timing was just right because the brand-new cardiology department had just been set-up, was now fully functional and ready to roll.
"I believe it was God's plans, and I happened to be at the right place at the right time and was so happy to learn that the total cost would be only $12,000 - a fraction of what my family would have spent in India," Lata added.
An elated Kusum Lata with PSH founder and CEO Parvish Kumar, second from right, and his medical team. Photo: Shalendra Prasad
Former president of Fiji College of General Practitioners (FCGP) Dr Ram Raju said normally it would have taken ten-days for an open-heart surgery patient to be fit enough to go home.
He said Kusum Lata's surgery was carried out so smoothly that she showed great signs of quick recovery and that enabled the management of PSH to allow an early release.
Dr Raju congratulated PSH for conducting the first-ever open-heart surgery for an adult patient at a private facility in Nadi.
"Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) is one of the most common heart surgeries for patients who have had heart attacks,: he said.
"CABG already started in Fiji at Colonial War Memorial Hospital (CWM) as well as Lautoka Hospital by a team of cardiac specialists from India and this is the first such case at PSH in Nadi at a modest cost of $12,000," Dr Raju said.
