Artists impression of Franklin Day Surgery. Credit Franklin Day Surger

Franklin Day Surgery, the recently opened day-stay hospital in Pukekohe, is serving the growing areas of Franklin, North Waikato and Coromandel, offering eyecare and other health services and allowing patients to return home the same day.

Pukekohe is the 24th largest urban area in New Zealand and third largest in the Auckland region, said Franklin Day Surgery’s CEO, Dianne McQueen. “The town is on the cusp of major transformation, with around 1,700 hectares of land set aside for future urban development over the next 30 years. When the council building at 82 Manukau Road came up for sale, a local businessman saw an opportunity to serve Pukekohe and surrounding communities. He partnered with a friend involved in private hospitals and the rest is history.”

This rising demand, combined with the increasing strain on the public health system and growing interest in private healthcare, underscores the need for a purpose-built medical hub in the region, McQueen said. The purpose-built centre provides for a range of surgical procedures, including ear, nose and throat, gynaecology, urology and plastic surgery, and is actively looking for clinicians, she added.

Franklin Day Surgery’s resident ophthalmologists are: Dr Arvind Gupta, a consultant ophthalmologist based at Auckland’s Manukau Super Clinic and Greenlane Clinical Centre who specialises in cataract, medical retina, neuro-ophthalmology and general ophthalmology; Dr Chris Pruet, glaucoma and cataract surgery specialist; and Dr Verona Botha, a consultant ophthalmologist with subspecialty training in cataract, oculoplastic, lacrimal and orbital surgery.

Meanwhile, LA Medical Investments, the clinicians behind Franklin Day Surgery, is fitting out Hamilton’s Anglesea Clinic as a two-theatre day-stay hospital and has also received resource consent for a private hospital at Te Puna in the Bay of Plenty, McQueen said.