Cosmetic medical tourism to come to Turks and Caicos

Many people in the Caribbean region travel for cosmetic surgery to the Dominican Republic.

The Turks and Caicos Islands want to take part of that market. Cosmetic surgery clinics used by locals depend on two American cosmetic surgeons travelling every few months from the USA to perform operations. For patients who need immediate surgery, they are flown to other islands as the Americans only appear three or four times a year.

Breast reduction surgery was considered non-cosmetic and was covered by the National Health Insurance Plan (NHIP), but that changed and it is no longer covered as it is classified as cosmetic surgery. A few years ago a local hospital agreed to offer cosmetic surgery where patients pay out of pocket, to help the hospital earn some money.

Most patients from these islands went to the Dominican Republic and other islands, so the American surgeons set up a programme where the costs are very similar but are better as there is no need to travel, and they can get follow-up care at home too.

Only 10 to 15 surgeries are performed during every visit, of which four or five are for cosmetic operations, and for these operations they usually see more patients than they actually operate on. The surgeons see people and decide if there is an operation that will help them. Operations are then priced, and some decide not to proceed. Most people are operated on at the next trip in four months from the date of first appointment.

Although the hospital is ready and capable of offering more cosmetic surgery to the local market, they are not set up to take in people from other countries. But the surgeons intend to expand in the near future, with the possibility of an off-site location for outpatient surgeries.

Some operations are on locals who have had surgery in the Dominican Republic and had problems or infections. On the islands there is a high proportion of large breasted women, so there is a lot more need for reductions than augmentations.

A plan is to have a website so that patients who are interested can get online and see what operations are offered, the prices and can have a direct line to the surgeons.

Progress is very slow locally so these future projects will probably take years rather than months.

The main local hospital does some medical tourism with knee and hip surgeries, but as it is government owned it waits for the government to push any initiative, as for every operation not covered under the NHIP, the government takes 50 % of the cost.