[Photo: Supplied - Gary Morrison & family]

A Vanuatu tourism executive has become the first international to undergo open heart surgery at the Pacific Specialist Healthcare Hospital in Nadi.

Gary Morrison flew into the country last month and underwent operations from Sunday, February 23 to Friday, February 28 at the modern state-of-the-art facility.

The 57-year-old resort casino manager said he had been experiencing heart problems for the past five-years and had never undergone any procedures in the past, apart from taking prescribed medication.

“My daughter in Vanuatu recommended me to a doctor there who recommended me to take a trip to Fiji for surgery plus my wife has family here in Fiji and they also strongly recommended PSH Hospital for my surgery,” Morrison said.

“The services I have received at PSH are brilliant, fantastic and one of the best I could expect.”

He said since open-heart surgeries were not available in Vanuatu, he would recommend his family and friends visit Fiji for treatment.

“There are no issues or delays in coming to Fiji as there are direct flights between Port Vila and Nadi operated by Fiji Airways and it is so convenient. When it was diagnosed that I needed to go through a surgical treatment, everything was arranged within two-weeks and now I look forward to going home.”

PSH Hospitals founder and chief executive officer Parvish Kumar said Fiji’s bid to become an attractive medical tourism hub of the Pacific was slowly becoming a reality.

“Since our multi-million-dollar cardiology department and catheterization laboratory (cath lab) was commissioned in November last year, it was subsequently followed by the initial heart bypass surgery on a Lautoka grandmother. We have carried out a number of similar surgeries including a few very complex ones but the good news is that we have now had our first international heart patient from Vanuatu who has had a very successful surgery and has been discharged after given the clearance from our specialist team.”

He said the triple graft heart bypass surgery was led by cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Sanjeev Khulbey who has 30 years of experience under his belt, together with a team of highly trained cardiology specialists.

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