Gone are the days when heart patients from Samoa and other Pacific Island countries would have to endure 24 hours of air travel and spend close to $50,000 to get heart bypass surgery in India or even other more expensive destinations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Thanks to Pacific Specialist Healthcare (PSH Hospitals), a state-of-the-art 130-bed speciality private hospital has now set up a fully fledged cardiology department just a stone’s throw away from the Nadi International Airport in Fiji.

While it took the management of the hospital close to 15 months of meticulous planning and procuring of advanced medical equipment, the entire team at PSH Hospitals is on cloud nine following their first open heart surgery procedure that was executed successfully in Nadi by award-winning cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Sanjeev Khulbey and his team of experienced cardiology specialists in November 2024.

Ever since the historic open-heart surgery last year, PSH Hospitals has carried out a marathon of life-saving procedures on numerous patients from Fiji and the Pacific region.

PSH Hospital founder and chief executive officer Parvish Kumar says the hospital is ready to serve patients from Samoa and other neighbouring Pacific Island countries as they now have the facilities, resources and skilled specialists to do so.

“The important thing is to save precious lives, and, in that case, money becomes a secondary matter. Therefore, we have decided to extend our services to fellow Pacific Islanders at very reasonable rates,” Mr Kumar said.

“It would be a fraction of what our Pacific Islands' brothers and sisters would pay in India, Australia or New Zealand for that matter.

“Our priority is to save lives in the greater Pacific Rim, and we are ready to work with regional medical insurance service providers as well.”

Mr Kumar confirmed that following the first and historic open-heart procedure, PSH Hospitals is now inundated with bookings from local and international patients respectively.

“We have just performed a triple graft heart bypass surgery on a Vanuatu patient who happens to be the general manager of a leading resort-based casino in Port Vila and this milestone achievement has brought in more confidence from other Pacific Island countries.

“With Fiji Airways operating almost five flights a week directly between Apia and Nadi, a world-class medical facility is only a four-hour flight away for Samoan patients.”

Meanwhile, heart disease is a leading cause of death in Samoa with one in every three deaths related to a cardiovascular illness or other non-communicable diseases.