Major med facility planned
Posted on Tue, 11/17/2009 - 08:39 in Headline News
(CNS): A world famous heart surgeon is planning to set up a new medical complex in the Cayman Islands which promises not only to provide cheaper health care for residents but to open up the prospect of medical tourism. Dr Devi Shetty (left), who is considered to be a health care visionary by many because of his pioneering work in providing high-quality health care at low cost, has set his sights on Cayman as a potential location for providing serious cardio and tertiary medical care to those from North America and the region.
According to a press release on behalf of Dr Shetty, the new medical facility would bring hundreds of millions of dollars to Cayman and turn the long held belief that Cayman could be a medical tourism destination into a reality. Bangalore, India, where Dr Shetty founded his group of hospitals, the Narayana Hrudayalaya Group, is already enjoying a boom from medical tourism, not least because of Shetty’s approach, which works on the principle of quantity as well as quality to keep costs down.
“Dr Shetty has made it his mission to provide the highest-quality health services to patients who otherwise could not afford treatment,” the release said. Dr Shetty himself is said to perform literally hundreds of serious medical procedures every week and has revolutionized the provision of healthcare.
According to the same release, in a venture with various state governments he founded Yeshasvini Micro Health Insurance, which in its first 20 months of operation enabled 85,000 farmers to receive free medical treatment, including 22,000 free surgeries.
Dr Shetty’s 1,000-bed heart hospital in Bangalore, one of the largest in the world, performs 30 heart surgeries a day. He also runs a 1,500 bed cancer hospital, a “super specialty” eye hospital equipped to perform 500 cataract surgeries a day, a 250-bed trauma and orthopaedic centre, and an academic institution with 48 training programs for medical specialists, nurses, medical technicians, and healthcare administrators.
The idea of bringing a significant sized and multi-disciplinary hospital to Cayman, with its proximity to the US, is driven by a number of factors, including forecasts that medical tourism from there could increase tenfold during the next decade. In 2007, 750,000 American patients went overseas for major healthcare needs; last year the number reached almost 1.5 million. In the US a heart-bypass operation costs on average about $144,000. The same operation in India at one of Dr Shetty’s medical facilities, including airfare and accommodation, is around $8,500.
The plan for Dr Shetty to bring his health care vision to Cayman seems to have government backing. While emphasizing that this is a private initiative, Minister of Health Mark Scotland reportedly said he believed such a project could bring “great benefits” to the Cayman Islands, including on-island availability for tertiary care, which is not available in many instances at local hospitals, as well as lower-costs to patients, insurance companies, and government, and an infusion of high-quality jobs.
Medical tourism, Scotland said, could emerge as the long-elusive “third leg” of the Cayman economy, complementing financial services and the hospitality industry. Premier McKeeva Bush is also said to be supporting the initiative, and government will be exploring the proposal in the coming weeks.
Canover Watson, chairman of the Health Services Authority (HSA), said medical tourism held “great promise” for the Cayman Islands and that the work of Dr Shetty and his facilities in India were a “model” for this industry worldwide.
CNS understands that the planned facility will be considerably bigger than the Chrissie Tomlinson Hospital and the scope of the project was described as “enormous". It will work on Dr Shetty’s principle of carrying out high numbers of procedures every day to keep costs down. The main goal is to attract overseas patients for a diverse range of health services, as well as offering genuine affordable health care to locals. As the project is still in the early stages of development, a spokesperson for the Narayana Hrudayalaya Group said that more details would be revealed in the next few weeks. The key message, however, was that Dr Shetty was aiming to “make Cayman a centre of excellence for health care” and develop the concept of medical tourism for the jurisdiction.
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Will this lead to
Will this lead to establishing a new Med school as well? There are already talks about this.
<!--Session data-->What a litany of drivle . You
What a litany of drivle . You people should stop wasting the internet's time.
Why not tag into the two
Why not tag into the two hospitals that are already up and running. Dr Shetty could just build a building with the surgical suites and post op care. then the pt could transfer to the regular hospital for final care. Cath lab and echo and post of nurses and ancillary staff would be needed. I dont think you want to get into transplants. Plus frankly you dont have enough population to support such a program. And a lot of transplant organs have very limited time out of "donor" to recipient.
dj
First of all I think most of
First of all I think most of you are looking at it the wrong way. Yeah he would get status or whatever but honestly if you think about what he's going to do then thats great. I mean I'm studying to hopefully become a doctor now and I want to go into the field of surgical pediatrics specialising in cardiology and to be able to come home and actually work in Cayman would be excellent. I mean come Cayman is home and that isnt going to change. Secondly if you think about it, it would open up more job opportunities for Caymanians. Yeah they're probably going to want to bring in more forieners but as qualified individuals we still have the chance to apply. If you want something bad enough why not jus go out and get it and not wait for it to be handed to you.
It would be interesting to
It would be interesting to know if Dr. Devi Shetty is considerin setting up in Caymana Bay.....they seem to have everything except a hospital in there.
By the way what is going on
By the way what is going on here? Are government allowing this indian to come here and be giving status to build a bigger hospital than THE CHRISSIE TOMLINSON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL? Another expat coming to run a SMART, ITTELIGENT AND AMBITIOUS caymanian out of business? I am so proud of DR TOMLINSON.iam one for sure wouldnt be going to him.
This is quite ignorant and
This is quite ignorant and you obviously haven't read the posting. The hospital has nothing to do with Chrissie Tomlinson or the services it provides.
This is set up for cardiology, oncology and other specialized surgical procedures that are not currently available on the island. It would be in competition with Baptist or Kendall up in Miami - but not the local hospitals.
Besides, the focus is not to provide services to Cayman residents (there are only 60,000 people so it couldn't possibly make any sense). This is to set up a base for medical toursim (people from North and South America). I don't think that CT hospital gets a lot of patients from overseas.
I for one am keen to maintain
I for one am keen to maintain the atrociously low level of medical care in the Cayman Islands in order to protect the profit streams of Caymanian owners. My life or their profits? An easy choice. Their profits of course. Who wants the benefits to the consumer of choice in a market like medical services?
Exciting but not realistic.
Exciting but not realistic. It suggests that the new Government understands that the private sector can – and should - play a key role in developing healthcare infrastructure. It will surely be interesting to learn what is the position of the Cayman Medical Society regarding this, and similar, concepts. I wish the good doctor all the luck in the world (or in Cayman), as he will need it when his dream meets our reality.
Not a very good analysis,
Not a very good analysis, using a new hotel as an example...The benefit for Cayman is in generating huge revenues from Governement to employ, Caymanians in the civil service, build schools and generally improve and run Cayman.
A new 150+ room hotel is usually a 15 year - 20 year proposition for a developer to pay off debt and actually reach a profit (providing no recession).
Huge risk for developer non for Government or Cayman, and on a financial model the CI Government will make more money from import duties on throughputs, work permits, accommodation tax etc...The Governement (ie: country of Cayman) will make more money on a yearly basis from the Hotel than the Developer will...
We also have the least incentives fro developers of any country currently in the Caribbean or central america....So tell me why we would not welcome the right type of direct foreign investment that creates jobs, builds roads, schools and allows Cyamanians opportunities...
We have 2200 hotel rooms, there are beaches that have more hotel rooms than Cayman does, we have old and dated product and have slipped behind competing destinations precisely because people make ignorant comments like this...Hotels = tourists, Tourists = Money , Money = Opportunities for Caymanians...
Don't bash Hotel developments or Hospitals aimed at creating financial wealth and opportunities for your children and grand children...Encourage Hotels and Medical Tourism...You don"t make anything to export, you are a service orientated economy, so start delivering the service otherwise investors will and have already gone elswhere...Old saying don't look a gift horse in the mouth...
When someone wants to build a 2000 room hospital, think of how many contractors and subcontractors and businesses in Cayman will be able to pay for there childrens university from this single project...
Embrace it don't scorn it...
Great news, good start for
Great news, good start for the Minister of Health. Glad to see he had been quietly working on good things for the Cayman Islands.
Imagine Health care which has been a financial burden on the country could the number pillar of our economy.
Wish we had the this type of Government from four years ago.
Do you really think that this
Do you really think that this is the work of the new Minister of Health?
I suggest you book yourself in for a brain transplant....you need one...by the way maybe you can get a big group discount if you book all the rest UDP people (supporters and Government) at the same time.i agree with you all of the
i agree with you all of the udp members need a brain transplant and mouth transplant also
I cant stop laughing but it's
I cant stop laughing but it's so true (9:35).
agree that "low cost" and
I note that although the
I note that although the headline says a medical facility is planned, the text of the first paragraph states " Cayman is a potential" location. Quite a difference.
This has been reported in the Indian press as recently September:
"Indian hospital major Narayana Hrudayalaya plans to set up a health city in Mexico that will also cater to patients from the US.
'Our next project will be a health city in Mexico. We may tie up with some American hospitals for this project,' said Devi Shetty, eminent cardiologist and chairman of the Narayana Hrudayalaya group of hospitals."
Is it likely that 2 such facilities will be developed in this part of the world?
Further, Dr. Shetty has some interesting ways of managing his businesses. This from an interview with a German newspaper:
"Our staff members, all my colleagues, work for about 12 to 14 hours every day. And we run the infrastructure we've created 14 to 16 hours every day"
Is there any sector of the Caymanian or expat population that wants to work these kinds of hours day in, day out? If you don't, forget job creation.
Here's another example. Its reported that nurses in his hospitals are forbidden to sit down during their shifts, because he believes that standing promotes greater efficiency, anything up to 30% greater. He also suggests that this encourages greater nurse turnover because older nurses cannot manage to stand for an entire shift, which is fine by him because the older the nurse, the more they get paid, so constant turnover keeps salary costs down.
I'm not knocking this idea. Maybe it is a good area for Cayman to explore. But it strikes me that there are some serious cultural differences between how Dr. Shetty's business model works and how Cayman works. This aspect would definitely need to be thoroughly explored before commitments were made. I'm not sure I trust government to do this in their enthusiasm to attract new revenue sources.
where did u get this
where did u get this information from? I couldn't find anything!!!
Don't believe me? I've never
Don't believe me? I've never posted links before, so hopefully these will work. Otherwise you can paste to the address bar.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,2324316,00.html
http://www.healthbase.com/resources/news/latest/narayana-hrudayalaya-plans-health-city-in-mexico.html
what do we do when something
what do we do when something new and exciting comes along? WE shoot it down. This could have the potential to be bigger than the finance and the hospitality industry as Medical Tourism is a muti billion industry which is growing and is here to stay. Being so close to US of A and with thier health services crumbling we could be on something BIG.
Also this creates stayover tourism when the patients are discharged and either stay here or come back and that is what we need.so I say GO Mr Shetty> GOD SPEED in expediting this and by the way he has practised out of INDIA. GOOGLE and find out
This project will not produce
This project will not produce any jobs for Caymanians or Increase Tourism !!
My only reservation is that
My only reservation is that we will be exposed to alot of diseases in the Country, perhaps more than we have now.
Medical Tourism has been
Medical Tourism has been around for a while on a small scale.
Quite a few tourist come here for cosmetic surgery and other proceedures that can be had locally for a lower cost than the USA.
That is actually what Cuba hopes to make its economy grow from so if locals want to shoot it down before it arrives other jurisdictions in the area will grab it.
This is not news! Most of us
This is not news!
Most of us heard about this proposal years ago. I believe the hospital will be built at Caymana Bay and was planned before the project of Caymana Bay was started!
Only problem I see is that although these procedures are extremely expensive in the U.S.A. we all know things cost even more here...so how will it be cheaper here?
No - that is all wrong. This
No - that is all wrong. This complex is projected to be twice the size of Camana Bay and I have heard that it could be in East End.
The reason that medical procedures in the U.S. are so expensive is due to malpractice insurance and a shortage of qualified doctors and nurses. Not to mention Medicare and Medicaid fraud.
If the Cayman Gov't is able to cap malpractice claims to something reasonable (let's say $500,000 per claim or something like that) - it would immediately cut the costs of the medical procedures by around 30-40%. Add in doctors and nurses from India working at half of the U.S. rates - and there is your 60% cut in costs from the U.S.
Most of the medical
Most of the medical malpractice claims in Cayman are settled out of courts and it is understood that they are very frequent. These incidents do not come to the public domain and most people do not want to do any surgeries in cayman because of lack of facilities and skills of some of the surgeons operating here. Introduction of private health insurance in this countryl in late 1990 has corrupted some of the medical professionals and there are no strong regulations to clamp down these courrupt practices. This has caused ever escalating health insurance premiums on the working population. In fact, the cap on malpractice claims should be higher than $1,000,000 to protect natives of this country. In the USA, it can be $500,000 because of tough regulations and the government oversight. Cayman has a long way to go to achieve this.
Medical Malpractice is capped
Medical Malpractice is capped at $150,000 per claimant in Florida; so, it can’t be competitive solely based on lower insurance cost.
I would be looking at hiring vast numbers of inexpensive doctors from Cuba and India and putting them up in Dormitories. In spite of the poor state of Cuba’s health system it is an exceptional Doctor Factory. Locating in Cuba would also make sense if the conditions were better, since they are not; Either Cayman or the Bahamas with direct North American market access makes a lot of business sense.
I expect this business will not be a medical tourism business per se. Its volume requirements are very large, better to contract with a number of huge US health care providers and let them ship patients in and out as quickly as possible. Expect medical charters and relatively few people wandering around shopping, diving and eating spicy Jerk.
Its might be possible to tie into St. Matthew's University School of Medicine accreditation program so that the doctors can move to the US eventually. This would be an incentive for them to locate here as part of a career move that will give them US access. This could be a very good business model.
I’m not sure that it will become the third leg of our economy. I don’t visualize a lot of local employment and I expect that all of its expenses will be tightly managed within a totally self-contained facility.
If we want medical tourism we should consider Plastic Surgery. Elective cosmetic surgery encourages a few weeks of recovery time in a hotel or condo and since they are not sick, they can eat in restaurants and have a good time. When they return home with a tan and a new smile their friends will think the new look was the result of a great Caribbean vacation. Good for Cayman.
I’m not negative about this project. Caymanians will benefit from having more cost controlled health care and a lot of people considering a home or condo in Cayman will find it comforting to know that a world-class medical facility is located here. Probably the two biggest issues for retirees and wealthy offshore homeowners are great golf courses and medical care.
We may discover that we need more than one single big answer to the “third leg” of our economy. Perhaps we need a lot of good answers that don’t at first glance seem to fix our problems but gradually added up to a real economy. Maybe a centipede would be a better model than a 3-legged stool.
We don’t have much resilience and diversity in our economy. Possibly it’s because of our preoccupation for measuring each proposed business against its immediate good for Cayman. Maybe we should try to be less wise and just let businesses come here if they think it makes sense. Free enterprise needs room to adapt, evolve and explore. Cayman with its restrictions has driven more business away than it has attracted. A centrally managed economy eliminates diversity and efficiency and always fails eventually. What do you call a country where the majority of it brightest and most talented citizens work for the state?
Here is the link if you don't
Here is the link if you don't believe me:
http://www.floridamalpractice.com/med13.htm
Your claim about Florida
Your claim about Florida malpractice caps is not correct. It is not capped at $150,000.
There is a sliding scale that was just put into place from $500k - $1 million. And the concept of the cap will not apply retroactively.
Additionally, the concept of a cap itself has not yet been proven in case law on either a state or national level.
So Cayman would indeed have a huge potential advantage given that it set its own laws and is not held hostage by the U.S. court system.
The Walkers Building is not
The Walkers Building is not nearly large enough to house this complex . . . perhaps the new "Glass House"?
He can set up the medical
He can set up the medical centre in the new Walkers building, they look like they won't be needing it anymore!
Great idea. Let's get the
Great idea. Let's get the ball rolling on this ASAP.
This is a great idea, hope it
This is a great idea, hope it works out in the best interest of Cayman.
And lets us not forget about
And lets us not forget about Maples & HSBC! They both have waterfront view for the patients, plus Paradise & kentucky right next door for snacks.
I did a little quick online
I did a little quick online research and it seems that Dr. Shetty is quite accomplished. He was the private doctor to Mother Teresa and really innovative in the medical field as well as to the economic side of medical care allowing for every person to receive timely and equal treatment. In today's world where the cost of health care is on everyone's mind, we should give this a chance to develop.
Dr. Shetty is the real deal -
Dr. Shetty is the real deal - this is guy is famous in India. He was the doctor who personally cared for Mother Theresa for many years.
I've heard that there are major financiers behind this project and it could eventually directly create 1,000 jobs and hundreds more indirect jobs (construction, retail, hospitality/leisure, etc...).
If 40% of those direct and indirect jobs go to Caymanians - you could be talking about 600-700 jobs over the next 5 years or so. Even if those numbers are wildly overstated - you could still be talking about 200 new Caymanian jobs.
I'm surprised none of the PPMers have bashed McKeeva or the UDP on this project. It is their knee-jerk reaction.
Whilst im not putting down Dr
Whilst im not putting down Dr Shetty he was practicing in the UK til 1989 Mother Theresa died in 1997 as was pointed out by Chris Hitchens Vanity Fair "In contrast to the conditions at her homes, Mother Theresa sought medical treatment for herself at renowned medical clinics in the United States, Europe "
Great idea until everyone
No work permit for him!!!!
No work permit for him!!!!
How does Cayman feel about
How does Cayman feel about accepting workers in from India etc in their droves purely because they offer cheap labour to operate these medical facilities - there is something really unethical about all of this a fair wage should be paid for a good days work
Just look at what has happened in Dubai where these workers are effectively second class citizens
Rubbish! have you ever lived
Rubbish! have you ever lived in Dubai? Know the facts: Cayman is in no way compariable to Dubai.!!
I have lived in Dubai and
I have lived in Dubai and work regularly in UAE - I was pointing out that if Cayman does go the way of Dubai by bringing in educated medical professionals from countries such as India / philippines which are a lot cheaper than UK /US professionals it will do the country no good reputation wise it is also extremely unethical -im referring to lab techs , pharmacists, nursing staff etc never mind the actual doctors - they also tend to live very simply and send most of their money home
Why are you already
Why are you already complaining about this? How do you know they aren't going to get a fair wage?
What is a fair wage anyway? The same amount that someone in the U.S. would make? If that is the case, then this facility won't be able to provide its services at a discount to U.S. rates.
And what about the client side? Why should a middle-class patient have to pay the additional costs?
The medical regulations /
The medical regulations / ethics that hospitals in India / Pakistan follow would be completely unacceptable in Cayman / UK / US there is a price to pay for going down this path.
I totally agree that the
I totally agree that the medical regulations of Indian Hospitals would be completely unacceptable in the USA, UK, Canada and Cayman. This guy has never even practiced outside India.
Jeezus there's so many folk
Jeezus there's so many folk on here spout crap without checking their facts first!
He trained in cardiac surgery at Guys Hospital in the United Kingdom. He was in the West Midlands and London for just over 6 years.
What do you know of medial
What do you know of medial regulations/ethics in India or Pakistan? And of course Dr Shetty has practiced outside of India. Stop posting if you're unable to say anything intelligent you idiot
Perhaps you need to take a
Perhaps you need to take a look at the illegal donor trade that is rife in India / Pakistan as a starting point something which as caused grave concern as it clearly exploits the poorer members of society especially women who appear to have no rights . Yes Dr Shetty has practiced outside India no one is doubting his professional expertise - but his model can only work in countries where the labour costs / working hours/ medical facilities - general conditions are radically different .
So Dr. Shetty can't build a
So Dr. Shetty can't build a hospital in a foreign country because there is an illegal donor trade in India. How does that make sense?
That is like saying that U.S. based hedge fund managers shouldn't be allowed to set up a Cayman Fund because Bernie Madoff committed a fraud involving hedge funds.
Are you insinuating that Dr. Shetty's company has engaged in these illegal activities?
If so, please provide evidence of such allegations.
If not, please explain how it is relevant.
So what is Caymans stance on
So what is Caymans stance on organ donation a lot of health tourists visiting india are there for that specific reason - it is not an entirely ethical business
CNS: Just post the link, not the whole thing.
Caymanian organs are not
Caymanian organs are not suitable for transplanting to expats. With so much hate for expats the organs would act likewise and refuse to function.
My organs are cured in alcohol and are totally useless to anyone else.
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