Dr Fong Thanks FijiCare for Help During COVID
‘MANY UNDERVALUED THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE TRACER APP TO OUR EFFORTS, MANY DID NOT APPRECIATE THE WORK..’
FijiCare Insurance Limited was lauded by stakeholders during its 30th celebration on Wednesday night at the Grand Pacific Hotel. Ministry for Health and Medical Services permanent secretary, Doctor James Fong expressed his gratitude and was happy to be part of the celebration.
He said when the ministry was looking for answers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, FijiCare was one of the companies that stepped in.
“We were looking for a tracer app, and FijiCare stepped forward,” Dr Fong said.
“Many have undervalued the contribution of the tracer app to our efforts, as many did not appreciate the amount of work that had to be done, for us to translate all that paperwork into a programme that actually allowed us to contain a disease.
“We were weak on the digital space, but FijiCare helped us with the app, by sorting out a lot more of our digital strength that was required for us to respond properly, and bringing in people for the insurance,” he said.
Acting Prime Minister and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum acknowledged FijiCare’s willingness to work with the Government during the COVID-19 period and were able to get the source code from the Singapore government for the app.
“In fact, the managing director, Ravi Raju stepped up to tweak the app to get some people on board to be able to launch the app.
“The app was a very useful tool at one stage during the early stages of the COVID period to attract people to ensure that this trend was contained or limited at the very least.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said it was the responsibility of the Government to empower ordinary citizens and to provide an enabling environment where businesses, new ideas, and innovations are given the space to be able to flourish.
“People are able to access the insurance they could never dream of accessing, and, access payout when the insured dies, or a house gets burned down.
“For us as a Government, we’ve always reached out to the private sector and got them to push the goals and make money and profits, but we also want them to be on the cutting edge of business ideas of innovation, of the introduction of technology.
“There are always opportunities to become creative and resilient that can only be achieved if we have that symbiotic relationship between the public and private sector in FijiCare.
“Many of these opportunities exist for many other corporations, many other companies in Fiji that have been long established in Fiji, unfortunately, they’re not doing so.
The Minister for Economy has urged companies and corporates to use FijiCare as a symbol and role model to be able to roll out those types of initiatives within our economy and within our society.
“It is to that very sense of compassion, empathy, and a sense of creating a community that obviously we will become stronger as a country as we look forward to your next 30 years of innovation and creation and contribution towards your wonderful country,” he said.
Director
FijiCare executive director, Avi Raju said the FijiCare family has one purpose to fulfill and that was to make it grow and flourish.
“FijiCare has gone through a number of tough challenges since its inception in 1992, and arguably the biggest challenge was in the last couple of years when the COVID pandemic caused the world to come to a standstill.
“But because of the culture of resilience skills over the last three decades, the grit and the hard work of our staff, board, customers, brokers, agents, strategic partners, service providers, regulator the Reserve Bank of Fiji, and all the stakeholders, we are now bigger and stronger than ever before.
Chairman
FijiCare chairman Dumith Fernando acknowledged the people that had supported the company since its inception and the roles each stakeholder contributed towards the development of the company.