Solomon Islands 
Papua New Guinea 
The MOU was signed by the General Manager of Aspen Medical Advisory Services and Minister of Finance. It was witnessed by the Health Minister. Photo: Supplied.
The Vanuatu National Provident Fund (VNPF) and an Australian-based health service company have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a private hospital to be established in Port Vila.
The Minister of Finance responsible for VNPF, John Salong, and the General Manager of Aspen Medical Advisory Services, Robyn Hendry, signed the MOU in the presence of the Minister of Health, Marco Mahe.
General Manager (GM) of VNPF, Parmod Achary, said the MOU allows Aspen Medical to conduct an initial scoping study for the design and operation of the private hospital to be supported by the Vanuatu Government.
The scoping covers market analysis, service line options, facility options, governance and management, financial analysis and key risks.
Aspen Medical has offices in Australia and internationally. It is partnering with the Fiji National Provident Fund.
GM Achary explained that the MOU is for scoping only, Aspen Medical and VNPF are yet to enter into any partnership agreement.
He said VNPF will consider whether it will have a permanent partnership with Aspen Medical once the draft scoping document is submitted.
“The medical centre should be operated with the support of both VNPF and government. Why government? Because most of the VNPF members are government workers who will be customers of the private medical centre and the funds will come out from their Medisave accounts, therefore its important that we get the government involved,” he said.
VNPF is expected to also sign an MOU with the Ministry of Health (MOH) to formalize the ministry's support. GM Achary conveyed that Minister Mahe indicated the ministry will help find a land for the initiative.
He said the scoping study is expected to be completed early this year.
VNPF had embarked on this private hospital initiative several years ago with a French medical company, but the partnership did not eventuated.
GM Achary said it’s significant for VNPF as a social institution to ensure its members to have a healthy working life and retirement.
Source: Vanuatu daily Post