By ELENA VUCUKULA | THE FIJI TIMES

MANY business houses are using medical insurance as a scheme to retain their staff, says Fiji Care group chief operating officer Krishika Narayan.

She told the Nadi Chamber of Commerce and Industry annual business forum that there was a high demand for private sector medical insurance.

“A lot of corporate business houses, universities and banks have tailor-made medical schemes with us,” Ms Narayan said.

Fiji Care group chief operating officer Krishika Narayan.

“And what we are seeing increasingly is that a lot of the business houses are using medical insurance as a scheme of retention for their staff members for their workforce.

“It has been working out well, particularly given the case of the strain on medical facilities in terms of public facilities.”

Ms Narayan said while on one hand they were seeing a lot of pent-up demand for medical insurance, on the flip side in terms of private facilities there was a lack of private hospitals.

“And because of that lack of supply and heavy demand, we see a lot of escalation in costs as well when it comes to medical claims or when it comes to hospitalisation or when it comes to procedures and treatment that are available locally.

“At Fiji Care we understand there is a demand for medical care and there will always be.

“So, at the end of the day I think what’s important is how much we are investing in the medical sector.

“And as an insurance company we feel it is our responsibility to also play a big part and big role in the medical sector, and as such over the next three years we have a lot of capital investments planned out for state-of-the-art facilities in the medical sector that will be established in Nadi as well.”