The Cayman Islands Medical Tourism Facility known as "Health City Cayman Islands" will officially open on February 25, 2014, a little over one-month from now. The $80 million dollar facility with 140-beds will cater to its first customers a week later after the opening, March 3rd.
Over 100 job opportunities are being filled by those seeking employment. Sprawling across two full newspaper pages, employment opportunities were listed for 113 positions ranging from bus driver to clinical pharmacologist, and from plumber to Information Technology technician, in addition to doctors and nurses. For Caymanians, this was opportunities abound. The advertised annual salaries range from $19,167 to $375,000.
The benefits from the 113 jobs created will spill over into other businesses in the community and the island’s overall economy. Still to be added are the patients and their family members who will require transportation, accommodations, etc. The 140-bed medical tourism hospital is forecasted to attract annually over 85,000 stay-over medical tourists per year according Government officials back in 2010.
One can see how enormous the benefits will be to the economy, but not only in terms of monetary contributions, the key benefit will be the medical care, expertise and technology for the people of the Cayman Islands.
Health City Cayman Islands is a partnership between Dr. Devi Shetty’s India-based Narayana Hrudalaya and Ascension Health Alliance, the latter, the largest private non-profit health network in the United States of America.
The Cayman Islands Health City is to grow up to a 2000 bed facility over 15-years, an investment of sum two billion US Dollars. It would be the third-largest hospital in the U.S. attracting more than one million stay-over medical tourists per year. Work on the next phase is set to begin in March 2014.
With the 2014 national budget behind us after the House of Parliament gave its formal approval on January 16, Government will now focus on reducing cost, increasing revenue and compliance. The Minister of Finance described the country budget as a skeleton budget with not much flexibility.
Hence where new private sector investments are needed into our economy and facilitated by Government.
The country’s move into the medical tourism field would lead to an economic impetus and opportunities. Let every effort be made to see a ground breaking of a "Health City Sint Maarten" medical tourism facility in 2014.
Roddy Heyliger