Apollo Group Planning to Set up a Hospital in Fiji

India's Apollo group of hospitals is planning to set up a large hospital in the Pacific island nation of Fiji.

The Fiji Chamber of Commerce (FCC) has supported Apollo's proposal, according to the website of Radio New Zealand International.

"The Apollo group (has) already secured a site in Lautoka for such a facility; so we are hoping that in the next year or two we should see this actually eventuating - heart treatment, the whole range of medical treatment," the report quoted FCC president Taito Waradi as saying.

Lautoka is Fiji's second largest city and is situated on the island of Viti Levu, north of capital Suva.

This will be Apollo's first foray in the Oceania region. Ethnic Indians comprise 44 percent of Fiji's population of around 900,000.

Waradi said the FCC supported the proposal to develop medical tourism because although tourist numbers have been high in recent years, that may taper off.

The Apollo chain of hospitals was started in India in 1983. Today, it is the largest private healthcare chain in the Asia-Africa region with branches in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ghana, Nigeria, Qatar and Kuwait.

It recently got the green signal from the Oman government to start surgeries at its new unit in Muscat.

(Source: IANS)