Health

Open-heart surgery in Lautoka hailed a success

October 19, 2022 5:02 pm

Fiji’s most awaited free open heart surgery services for all Fijians have finally started.

This comes with the first-ever open-heart surgery under the public-private partnership, which has taken place at the Lautoka Hospital under Aspen Medical.

Aspen Medical Chief Executive, Annette Owttrim says the six-hour procedure on a man, 55 was conducted yesterday morning.

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Doctors say this has been a success with the patient in a stable condition.

After some delays, the surgery is now a massive achievement for the country as the public-private partnership between Aspen Medical and the Fiji National Provident Fund announced in 2019, is starting to pay dividends.

Owttrim says this is a milestone achievement for Fiji and her people in terms of health care.

“We have spent a lot of time preparing and planning for this surgery from sourcing the right equipment, having the right people on board and meeting all the necessities to ensure that we have patient safety and this has obviously taken time.”

Owttrim says for now a team of specialists from India are performing the operations, but plans are already in place for local health professionals.

“So during the course of surgery being conducted here at Lautoka we will be training at least two entire teams of Fijian staff.”

She has also revealed that the second surgery is underway on another patient.

According to Owttrim this has been a need for Fiji over the decades and to finally have this world-class facility operable is critical for people who could not afford overseas treatment.

There’s also a long list of people waiting to undergo the open heart surgery and Aspen Medical is calling on Fijians to be patient as they will ensure that the procedures are performed in a timely manner.