FREE medical services for senior citizens

Doctor Ratu Vereniki Raiwalui at PSH Hospitals in Nadi

By PSH MEDIA

Fiji’s largest private hospital has gone a step further in assisting the most vulnerable segment of the society by making GP consultations totally free-of-charge for all senior citizens above the age of 65-years.

Pacific Specialist Healthcare (PSH Hospitals) which is a state-of-the-art 130-bed specialty private hospital in Nadi and Suva believes in serving the greater Fijian community by making healthcare accessible to all members of the society.

“After significantly reducing GP consultation charges for all Fijians to $7.50, we have taken one step further by making the services for our senior citizens above the age of 65-years absolutely free,” PSH Hospitals founder and chief executive officer Parvish Kumar said.

Mr Kumar said that he has been receiving a lot of feedback, especially from the senior members of the community and those who have retired with no fixed sources of income to come up with something good for them given the hardship many of them are facing in old age.

“This latest initiative is also in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) to make quality healthcare affordable and accessible to all,” Mr Kumar said.

“This is about making healthcare more accessible by reducing out of pocket expenditure (OOP). Plus, most of the service providers are serving patients under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme with the government as a free service to the members of the public who qualify for assistance,” Mr Kumar added.

“We’re not competing with anyone or with the PPP medical service providers. We still have a fee of $7.50 for all other Fijians under the age of 65-years.”

Meanwhile, apart from the latest initiative of offering free GP consultation services to senior citizens, PSH Hospitals is also reducing baseline studies or diagnostic fees for Electrocardiogram (ECG), Chest X-Ray and Full Blood Count (FBC) with immediate effect.

“This reduction aligns with our already announced reduction in GP consultation fees and together with our excellence in healthcare delivery, we are now the most attractive, affordable and accessible healthcare provider in Fiji,” Mr Kumar said.

He said PSH Hospitals will be also reviewing pharmacy prices and costs of accommodation for patients soon.

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