By SHALENDRA PRASAD

The presence of world-class medical facilities can trigger many other spin-offs, says Fiji’s leading businessman Dilip Khatri.

Mr Khatri who is the managing director of Jack’s Group and also the chairman of the Vision Group conglomerate said one of the first industries to benefit from such facilities would be the tourism sector.

Speaking at the Pacific Specialist Healthcare (PSH) Hospitals corporate social night and “know your hospital” event, Mr Khatri said the concept of creating retirement and holiday homes was not able to realise its full potential all this while in Nadi and Fiji particularly was due to the lack of world-class and state-of-the-art private hospitals and other medical facilities and all this was about to change following the setting up of PSH Hospitals which is a  130-bed state-of-the-art specialty hospital with cutting edge medical equipment and a pool of ninety highly trained specialists.

From left during the PSH Hospitals corporate social and “know your hospital” event are Bharti Khatri, Jacks Group managing director and Vision Group chairman Dilip Khatri, PSH Hospitals founder and CEO Parvish Kumar and Umanand Prasad School of Medicine and Health Sciences (UPSMHS) acting dean Dr Abhijit Gogoi. Picture: SHALENDRA PRASAD.

“From what I have seen during my tour of the hospital, I can say this is what Fiji needed and I commend the founder of PSH Hospitals for his passion and vision for Fiji,” Mr Khatri said.

“I am very impressed and I see that the owner Parvish Kumar is doing all this from his heart and it’s not driven by any financial aspirations but pure passion for making world-class medical services accessible not only for the people of Fiji but the greater Pacific community and tourists as well.”

Echoing similar sentiments, the past president of Fiji College of General Practitioners (FCGP) Dr Ram Raju says the only reason Fiji could not capitalise on the sports tourism and medical tourism segments was because of the lack of such facilities in the country.

“With PSH Hospitals now strategically located right opposite our international airport, I am sure we will be able to attract international sporting events to Fiji including the Rugby Sevens series,” Dr Raju said.

He said the only thing lacking in Nadi now is the presence of a world-class multipurpose stadium that could attract international sporting events and musical concerts.

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• Shalendra Prasad is a freelance photojournalist based in Nadi, Fiji