The government of the Cayman Islands and Dr Devi Shetty, a leading Indian cardiac surgeon, are exploring an initiative to bring medical tourism to the Cayman Islands.Dr Shetty is the founder of the Narayana Hrudayalaya Group of hospitals in Bangalore, India. He is planning to set up a new medical complex in the Cayman Islands that will include a 500 bed hospital, that would later be expanded to 2000 beds and include a medical university.
McKeeva Bush, the Cayman premier confirmed, “ I am talking to Dr Shetty and our government has some interest his proposed medical facility in terms of our medical tourism plan. We are very supportive of the proposed hospital and we are continuing our discussions.Medical tourism will assist the Cayman Islands and it is a serious plan that Caymanians will benefit from, as it will enhance the services that are currently available.”
While government fully supports the medical project it is a completely private initiative by private investors and the government have denied reports they have offered land or any other form of partnership. Cayman Airlines is prepared to offer discounted airfare for early morning flights so people could fly in the morning, get their CT/MRI or other tests done and return in the evening.
The Health Practice Commission’s Dr Steve Tomlinson is not convinced, “I would reserve my opinion as for medical tourism to work it has requirements; it has to be quality service; needs to be less expensive than what the cost is wherever those patients are coming from, and/ or must offer treatment not available in the places where those patients are coming from.Cayman law says that we cannot offer healthcare services that are not already available in Canada, the United States and the UK. I believe that most patients would be coming from those countries.Medical tourism works in some places where people are paid very little for the work that they do because the cost of living in places like Bangalore, India, is much lower than it is here in the Cayman Islands.If you are going to use high-grade medical equipment and supplies it becomes very expensive.”
Dr Shetty says the hospital in the Cayman Islands would primarily serve Americans in search of lower-cost medical care. The plan is to build and run a general hospital where procedures, both elective and necessary, will be priced at least 50% lower than what they cost in the US.The financial model would only work if it can do volume operations.
Cayman is close to the United States , just 52 minutes from Florida, so it could be easy to bring medical professionals and patients to it.A replica of the health city in Bangalore could offer low-cost healthcare to American patients, but Cayman is not a low cost economy like India, and it would have to pay medical staff at American rates.The islands are small with a population of about 60,000 people, so would have to import medical and support staff.
Some local medical professionals do not believe the model would work as; local hospitals and private practices would have to close because they wouldn’t be able to compete; support staff could not survive in one of the world’s most expensive places to live; there is no spare housing for the 2000-3000 staff members needed; and importing a low cost model only works in a low cost country.
