The Ministry of Health has partnered with two Indian-based hospitals where Samoan patients will be referred for treatment. 

Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa and managing director of Medican, Deepak Singh signed off the memorandum of understanding this month. 

The two hospitals included in the MOU are Artemis Medicare Services Limited and Fortis Hospital Limited. 

This expands the existing network of hospitals supporting Samoa’s Overseas Medical Treatment Scheme.
The inclusion of the two hospitals will provide more options for Samoa to effectively place Samoan patients in facilities that not only offer the required treatment but also ensure cost-effectiveness.

Mr Singh said the long-term vision is to bring on island clinicians and provide medical treatment in Samoa starting off with cardiac procedures and chemotherapy. 

He noted the long-term commitment is to train local clinicians to start providing service locally compared to the limited number of patients referred overseas. 

Minister of Health, Valasi Tafito Selesele said the partnership means cheaper treatment for Samoans in India compared to the costs of treatment in New Zealand. 

Currently, the government spends in excess of $6 million to take people overseas for medical treatment. This budget only caters for a handful of people as the cases are assessed on needs. 

Meanwhile, the Samoa National Provident Fund is hoping to start their medical healthcare scheme that will allow people to ger overseas treatment. The scheme entails a $300 compulsory deduction from contributors and a $20 million injection from the government.

The proposal is yet to be approved and the scheme called the Medi-Insure scheme is said to be operated like an insurance plan.