Cautious support for Shetty
(CNS): The opposition has said that in principle it supports the general goal to develop medical tourism in the Cayman Islands and to encourage Dr Devi Shetty to take the first step with his proposed project. However, the PPM says it believes there must be careful and considerable long term planning for the initiative as it will have a significant impact on the country’s infrastructure in many ways. Speaking to CNS last week, Alden McLaughlin said he and his opposition colleagues wanted to see the project go ahead but there had to be discussions in the community about how it would cope with the changes the hospital would bring.
Aside from the staff that would be eventually required to run the hospital, the former Cabinet minister suggested the assisted living element of the project would increase the population by a significant amount, and while that was not necessarily a problem in itself there would be a need to plan carefully. Even given the proposed phasing of the health city, Grand Cayman would have to consider the demands the hospital would make on utilities, roads and other public services.
McLaughlin said Shetty had made a presentation directly to members of the PPM and he said the proposal was certainly exciting. “I believe that we do have to examine other avenues and look at creating pillars in the economic aside from tourism and finance,” he stated. “This particular proposal is extremely exciting as it has the prospect of creating that new industry.”
He said Dr Shetty was a physician of international renown with a proven track record, and on the face of it he should be encouraged. However, McLaughlin warned that the country had to discuss and properly plan how it would accommodate the project. He said there were some concerns to consider but they were not criticisms.
“We are not seeking to pour cold water on this idea at all but it is essential, given the scale of the proposal, that the ability of the Cayman Islands from an infrastructural perspective is examined,” he added. McLaughlin said that within the planned 15 to 20 years the staff, patients and assisted living residents could boost the population of Grand Cayman by some 20,000, and that time period was not a long time in the business of government and therefore planning had to be discussed now.
“Given how much criticism was made against the PPM administration for attempting to address the country’s needs, which had been neglected for so long, and considering the funding challenges, the country must to start planning now,” he added.
The PPM George Town representative said he wanted to see the project go ahead but he wanted to see government addressing the issues and to encourage wide debate and discussion in the community to prepare the country and ensure that the infrastructure was not overwhelmed.
The Cayman Islands Government signed an agreement with world famous cardiac surgeon, Dr Devi Shetty, to facilitate a major medical complex on Grand Cayman on Wednesday, 7 April, when the celebrated doctor was visiting the country. Dr Shetty has said he will be investing billions of dollars over the next decade to create a state-of-the-art health city and medical university set to revolutionize the provisions of tertiary health care.
Given the major changes predicted in the US as a result of health care reform, Dr Shetty believes that waiting lists will drive up an already growing demand in the medical tourism market for lower cost health care services and Cayman was well placed to deliver those services. He also suggested that, as medical science advances, people will live longer and longer but will require more and more health care.
The health city is expected to be developed on some 500 acres somewhere in the eastern districts but a location has not yet been selected. The project is set to be rolled out over several years, and while the goal is eventually to have a 2000 plus bed health complex and assisted living facility the first phase will be the development of a 200 bed university hospital.
Category: Headline News
Many of the posts here show the pathetic "cut nose/spite face" views so prevalent here. If the plan works it will add 2000 jobs to the economy directly and probably about the same again indirectly. So what if ALL the doctors are foreign? We will still end up with many many new jobs which Caymanians will be able to do.
if the ppm were smart they would bring a minimum wage bill to the house right about now.
the only way to offer cheaper healthcare is by reducing labour costs substantially.
what is about to happen is another major development is going to come in and most of the jobs will be offered at wages below what the average person can live on in cayman.
maybe its ok if you are supporting a family back in india and part of your compensation packag is dr. shetty housing you in some type of medical barracks feeding you cafateria style curry dinners.
local families wont gravitate to these jobs.
this begs the question, who are we developing for?
NO. There is always more than one way to skin a cat as they say. Not sure what they had against cats.
You can always do more operations than normal hospitals do. The idea behind the new hospital is what Wholesale is to retail. In wholesale you deal with higher quantities so even though the profit margin is smaller and your price lower the share numbers you turn over gives you the profit anyhow.
When your main cost are fixed, such as salaries of staff over a period such as a month then your cost per unit (operation) falls if the volume increases. Saying that their motto will be let’s operate and operate and operate.
Their fundamental and most critical belief is there is enough operations to keep them busy constantly. They believe they can do more than twice as many operations as a normal hospital and they believe this because their prices are lower and there is a already established need for lower healthcare.
In short. There is a market for this and they believe they can crank out operations at a high rate and that the market can support a high enough rate that it becomes profitable.
There is a much more detail and longer version with numbers but it might overwhelm you.
Well said, but you know a minimum wage will never happen in this country until some Caymanians stop being so greedy.
Dear Prophet,
The underlying tone of your post is quite racist. These doctors eating their "curry dinners" in the "cafeteria" (note the spelling – bad spelling does not help disguise your prejudiced agenda) are bound to have a better grasp of punctuation than you. But then anyone who knows use a capital letter, comma or apostrophe has a better grasp of punctuation than you. That would include my six year old.
Do not be bitter that others have progressed through hard work and education just because you have not.
The likelihood is that many of the employees will be Indian. If they are you can sure there will be plenty of curry dinners in the cafeteria. Nothing racist about that. Simple fact. It is so funny that on this forum exapts say all sorts of nasty things about Caymanians, e.g. they are lazy, greedy, corrupt, inept, hateful etc. and yet this is not recognized as racist. But one Caymanian says that Indians eat curry and it is racist. Ridiculous.
Thank you!
It seems that all the government wants to do is plug the hole in the budget deficit ASAP. You get the feeling that if someone from another country with bundles of money had asked to grow cotton and open a large mill, we’d all be talking about textiles as the new arm to the Cayman economy!
The Shetty project is moving forward way too fast, with way too little consultation– as far as I’m aware, Dr. Shetty did not formally meet with prominent doctors on the island during his last visit: an unfortunate oversight, or an arrogant snub?– and way way to little consideration is being given to how a project of this size (2000 beds?) will impact upon the island’s infratructure — roads, housing, airport, schools — in the medium to long term.
Furthermore, the political ramifications of medical tourism in this region seem to have been overlooked. As an offshore financial centre, we’re already in Obama’s bad books, and now — following and inspite of the recent changes to the US healthcaresystem — we intend to compete with the US for healthcare dollars; because in essence, that’s what we’ll be doing?
That we have not seen in the press comments or statements on the proposed project from any of the Cayman Islands medical organisations or associations is curious to say the least. The silence is deafening! Perhaps CNS might interview the Chairpersons of the various medical associations to see what "the profession" generally feels about this project?
You are right. Another thing, I have not read or heard anywhere what is going to happen to the hundreds of thousands tons of waste generated by a hospital that size. We would wind up with a lot worst than "Mount Trashmore" and nowhere to dispose of it. What are they going to do with it, pump it into our clear waters or bury it to contaminate our ground water. All these things should be made public before anything happens. For God’s sake, Caymanians, stop accepting what the officials do because you may be their friend or their family. WE ARE CAYMANIANS AND COULD LOSE OUR VERYB PRECIOUS HERITAGE FOR THE LOVE OFM MONEY.
Most medical facilities incinerate their medical waste. Fire. What a concept.
Did you consider that a hundred thousand (UK) tons is 224,000,000 pounds? Surely that’s bigger than your existing Mount Trashmore by several orders of magnitude. It might be even as big as McBush’s ego!!
Buddy we are about to loose more than our heritage. We have to do something or we are all going to loose our homes.
You know the problem is we have no idea truly how fast this is going ahead. Projects like this don’t pop up overnight. Saying that it is no doubt that they have had people in here from a very long time ago looking at all the different variables they could encounter.
We are lead to believe that this is in it’s infancy and at teh same time ready to start. People simply do not do business this way especially not with billions of dollars.
My best bet is this has been ongoing now where Cayman was not only the front runner but probably chosen for 2 years or more and they may well have their eyes set on a location but because of politics and all that comes with it they waited until the elections to drop it on us.
Again we simply are not being told everything and what we are learning are not 100% truths only 50% probably.
What I fail to understand is why is it that the UK now has literally hundreds of square miles of protected and untouchable coastline, but we hear of no moratorium on the development of our coastline – particularly in the eastern districts.
(Funny how as "Overseas Territories" we are forced to enact and acknowledge UK laws when it comes to human rights, gay rights etc. as they are supposedly good for us as it will make our country a better place. However, the great British environmental concerns do not seem to trickle down upon these shores. Very puzzling indeed, for in my humble opinion, failure in protecting the coastline (practically the entire island when you think about it) of the Cayman Islands is of far greater consequence.)
I guess money rules at the end of the day once again huh?
Personally, I find it a bit disturbing that so many of us are so very excited at the prospect of the "development" of the eastern part of the island but there are hardly any calls for caution in this regard.
If we are not careful we are going to over-develop ourselves out of existence.
We need to proactively determine when the point of "enough" has come – otherwise it never will.
I’m failing to see where these two things intersect. What does this have to do with the new hospital? Do you actually believe for one nano second it will be on teh beach somewhere??
@ Dred
"Do you actually believe for one nano second it will be on teh beach somewhere??"
Seriously? :o)
To answer your question – no, of course not.
My earlier post was in relation to the apparent support and push for the hospital to be constructed in the eastern part of the island.
History and basic town / city planning teaches us that new infrastructure tends to follow the erection of substantial projects.
I really don’t want delve much deeper into this particular issue … I am already a bit depressed having come this far – no offense.
Protection of the environment is the responsibility of Cayman’s own government and I can’t believe anyone in their right mind would think otherwise.
And if the British government were to impose environmental laws on the Cayman Islands, you would be one of the very first to complain about their unwarranted interference. I wonder, do you see the hypocrisy in your comment?
@ O’Really
Mornin’.
"Protection of the environment is the responsibility of Cayman’s own government and I can’t believe anyone in their right mind would think otherwise."
I completely agree with you on that point.
"And if the British government were to impose environmental laws on the Cayman Islands, you would be one of the very first to complain about their unwarranted interference. I wonder, do you see the hypocrisy in your comment?"
Maybe I didn’t word my comment as I meant it.
In no way am I calling for Britain to impose laws and restrictions in regards to our domestic environmental concerns. What I am calling for is just a tiny semblance of the dynamic environmental agenda of the UK to be reflected here by our own government, business leaders and developers.
This issue, in my opinion, is of far greater importance and necessity than say – gay rights in this country.
We have a long standing economic culture of sell, develop and invest – which is quite understandable due to our limited resources – however, where our local government and leaders are short-sighted in some areas – taking a page out of another’s book is always advisable whenever it is for the overall benefit of a country and people.
I know I rile against the UK quite a lot at times – however, I will give credit where credit is due – regardless of the source. Believe or not, I would not really object if the UK would tap us on the shoulder, lean over and say "Hey guys…you might want to go a bit easy on the development"
:o)
I fear for the the future of all the tiny island nations in the Caribbean in this regard. Most of us fail to fully appreciate what we have and the potential pitfalls of our "develop then develop some more" mindset.
As I see it, we are constantly charging our visitors more money for less of what kick-started the very product.
Reasonable response whodatis. What did you have for breakfast this morning?
Lol!
Wheaties…just like my good friend, Tiger!
:o)
Whilst the building and running of such a medical facility is appealing and a great opportunity for the Cayman Islands to become a player in the health care/medical world, I agree that long term planning and considerations need to begin from now.
This has nothing to do with having negative feelings towards such a project or undermining the efforts respective people have made to bring such a facilty to the Cayman Islands. Instead, the, the appeal for long term planning and consideration should be taken as "a lesson learned"!
Too many times in the past we have seen that decission were made hastily (and legislation revised accordingly), often leading to serious long term implications, some of those which can never be reserved. Two examples which come to mind are the amendment of the planning laws/zoning which allowed for 7 story buildings on the beach front as well as the mass status-grant. I do not wish to discuss either of the aforementioned actions as they belong in the past. Instead, I would encourage all the parties involved to put their ego aside and ensure that this time, they all get it right!
I sure hope they hurry up. If it takes 5 or more years I will likely be their first patient.
All joking aside I suspect a lot more good will come from this then we can imagine. Good roads to the eastern districts, a shift in demographics from west to east. New shopping centers, homes, apartment buildings, restaurants and hotels all in the eastern districts. The commute to Georgetown wont get worse because of this project and a lot of us may actually move that direction and put our business and homes safely on high ground. Now if we could just get the financial industry to follow suit we could completely redesign Cayman by developing a modern well planned city on the safest part of our island.
Think I go back and look at the cheap piece of beach front property that I saw for sale last week.
Driving to east end for a quick get away will never be the same again
This will be a disaster, why would people want to come here when there are already so many renown hospitals, universities and doctors all over the world. How many hospitals does this small island need, especially for foreigners to come in and get treated better and quicker than our own Caymanians.
Where is this money going to come from? Why is the Government always so willing to spend money we don’t have in such a recession? What are we going to do with the Hospital that we do have that is already losing so much money? They say it will bring jobs for the Caymanians, but thats what they always say and just look around at all the other Governemnt projects being run by foreigners.
We need to realize this is not a good idea at all.
First, may I ask which (Health) facility you work for? You see why I ask that is because they would be the first to speak in your manner.
Let’s help you understand the whys.
Cayman would want this because:
1) It represents real savings to the people of the Cayman Islands who can get operations done at 30-40% of the local prices.
2) Locals will be able to get operations done here that they would normally have to get done in the US and at a better price
3) Cayman Airways could show a significant increase in sales
4) Hotels will show additional business
5) Local utilities will do better
6) Local supermarkets have more business
7) Other local stores will get more clients
8) CIG will get more income from duties on stuff paid for later. Plus work permit fees even if they are reduced. Also licenses.
9) This would create jobs in a market that is running thin as we speak.
10) It would create new career opportunities as students could not only learn at the university but intern at the hospital.
11) This would create a boom again for construstion industry which has all but dried up and not only for the hospital but I can see new apartments being built to accomodate staffing.
I really could go on and on. If you don’t see this it’s because you don’t want to. If you work at a medical facility this would benefit you because you will have opportunity now to work for them.
Too much to really say honestly.
I don’t like this Dr. Shetty Hospital Plan, it’s not good for the Islands.(1) The Cayman Islands don’t have enough Doctors to assist him and where would Cayman get 128 of their own doctors from? Impossible! (2) He is going to bring is own Doctors which can range from 600 to 800 because it’s a 2000 bed Hospital.(3) it is not gonna benefit Cayman at all, it’s going to be a big failure take my word on that one because Cayman is to expensive to operate a hospital that size and don’t have the infrastructure for it and Alden is right the population can swell to 20,000, and where are the Doctors going to put their children also? (4) This is going to be 5 acres of wasted land that’s for sure.
Now I have an advice for the Government of the day, why don’t they used the existing Hospital that they already have and add a tourism care unit to it, and hire 4 cardiac surgeons and add 100 more rooms and improve the service of the hospital and bring it up to an international standard, that way Cayman would benefit from it and the Government would be come more profitable and that would be better than over populating Cayman further than what it is already. A 2000 bed hospital!!! What is the Government thinking? Their are going to shoot themselves in the foot because this hospital is going to destroy their own asset. And why would the Government sacrifice HSA for this over size Hospital in the first place? The bottom line it makes no sense whatsoever, it only songs good on paper, but the damage of Cayman would be the reality of it.
I’m a little disappointed that the Opposition invites this kind of a project, the Government needs to think about the Caymanians first and the three Islands and stop looking at the dollars, it’s only made up figures and in the end it never become a reality, it happen already to Cayman, remember Ritz Carlton? I say no more.
How old are you?
Here are the errors in your statements…
"….swell to 20,000" – aaah we already have more than 20,000. It’s swell BY 20,000.
then there’s "….this is going to be 5 acres of wasted land that’s for sure" – wow 5 acres. You really think a 2,000 bed hospitalcan fit on 5 acres. Try 500 acres and you are in the neighborhood.
Initially YES we are probably going to have a really high % of foreign doctors and that’s mostly because we do not have a huge local crop for this but over time with the university we could produce local doctors to increase the percentage of local staff. Keep in mind many will now have new opportunity for careers in this field because of this hospital. Many students don’t even think doctor because of having to study overseas simply because to become a doctor takes so long.
I feel we will only stand to gain from this. Yes we are expensive here but his way of doing business it should be profitable. The problem we keep having is imagining a hospital and how it’s run. We think GT hospital but this is not going to be like anything we have seen. All of the old rules simply do not apply in the way he does business.
I think we all just need to try to think of the potential problems and raise them at meetings so the the CIG of the day can address them in planning meetings.
This project should benefit us far beyond the problems it would create we just have to give it time to develop.
"Initially YES we are probably going to have a really high % of foreign doctors and that’s mostly because we do not have a huge local crop for this but over time with the university"
By this time most of them will be close to having status, and their families too. Its naive too think that Caymanians will somehow fill most of these positions, and that Shetty would want a Caymanian to do his heart transplant. They say one thing because they know they have to for public support; the reality is different.
It takes 7 years of education to become a doctor
I think you mean 7 years of tertiary education. More than that if you will be a specialist in the American system.
I agree with Mr. McLaughlin, we need to work out the logistics of thes massive project first before we embark on this journey. Please see the CNN Report below and Dr. Shetty’s Hospital is not even Accredited, therefore the Americans will not come here, instead they will go to the UK, especially Wales.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/04/26/cheaper.surgery/index.html?hpt=C1
Not all countries are compliant in Medicine or compliant with the USA and the UK.
These are the things the Private Sector, UDP and McKeeva needs to look at first, before proceeding with this massive project. The feasibility of the project. There’s a lot of competition out there and with our high Standard of living, will we be choosen over these all places.
Another factor in to the whol deal is, Where and what does he want Cayman to become, an Islamic Nation(see Ad in Fridays paper), a Hindu nation or just simply remain a Christian English Nation.
Our Ethnic and Social makeup, will be vastly affected and our relationships with the USA will probably get tarnished too. The big brother neighbours are watching and documenting. Be careful Cayman of what you are becoming for the love of money.
BTW – I am a born Caymanian and is in no way affiliated to any Political parties. Iam registered to vote, but refuse to because of too much Politricking. To stereotype me!
Just suppose we go back in time and it was the banks and financial industry that was thinking of coming to Cayman. They were each going to build seven storey buildings ,bring thousands of people to work here, clutter up the infrastructure with their cars, kids. Employ and educate hundreds of Caymanians who would have either left the Island or made rope.
I would hate to think that the nay sayers would work so hard to kill it. Along with change comes opportunity for everybody.
The world financial powers are wanting to put Cayman back in the days of rope and here is an opportunity to be come a leader again in a different field.
Cayman needs to think further than just four years ahead and prepare the ground for our grand children. Medicine is not a bad way to go!
Well said. Offshore finance would surely be opposed if it was proposed today. We are so busy complaining and protecting that no new project would make it past the starting gate. I don’t know enough about the medical industry to have an informed opinion and I’m not sure that many of the people who write critical comments here do either.
Overall I don’t think this is as big a deal for Cayman as everyone is visualizing. By the time it materializes it will just be another part of Cayman’s business mix.
I can still remember the time of rope, it wasn’t so bad, but those days are past and there is no going back. Soon these days will just be memories as well. Lets move ahead with some diversity so that we all have good jobs, education and opportunities that don’t depend on a single industry or market. The one thing that I do know is that critical medical care is increasingly covered by insurance and nearly recession proof. So maybe this is a step in the right direction.
The finance industry is made up of a multitude of companies. This is just one very large project.
If this is to be a success, planning has to start from now. The government can help school leavers attain scholarships in the medical profession so that once the hospital opens up they will have qualified staff available. Construction workers are going to be needed, start offering courses for layman, electricals, assistants, etc.
This facility will be producing a lot of trash. Will they have an incinerator on site to dispose of sharps and other sort of bio-hazard material? Will it have a "green" aspect to it, such as solar panels on the roof to power the facility or generators in case of power outages? Will it be high enough that it won’t be flooded in a hurricane to minimise damages? Will flight fares decrease to encourage these medical tourists to come here instead of else where?
These questions and more need to be looked at and answered before they even prepare to break ground. Every aspect needs to be thourghly looked at. They should have "what if" or back-up plans as well so everything can move smoothly and make this as successful as possible.
Too little too late Mr Mclaughlin(Expats Basher),the PPM never had the foresight to stop this islands from bleeding financially with major governments projects,unfriendly to foreign investors,massive borrowing and records governments deficits.No way!!! we are going to follow the PPM(Poor People Mistake) on this one, sorry try something else LOL…….Dr Shetty Hospital is the best thing that happen to the Cayman Islands since the financial sector in the 70s.UDP better way forward!!!!
Anon – 13.25
How original and you sound real itelligent – NOT!!!!!!!
To Anon 13:25, if that is what you think (& you must be the only one, apart from Mac & his cronies) you beter get into the streets & hear what everybody is saying about your "better way forward udp! All I can say in reponse to that joke is Hahahaha LMAO, you living in another country boy!
AJ you have brought some good sensible comments for us to consider. I do hope your comments are carefully looked into. If not "You know Caymanians, we will be pitching daggers at that hospital in no time if the right things are not done.
the health city won’t happen… just think about the economics of it… where are the jounalists who should be asking the hard questions about this?
Please enlighten us with the "hard questions" you see as not being asked.
We are but idiots here.
There is no pie. Think of what you can contribute to the project rather than to see what you can ‘get’ out of it. This way, you will also receive the appropriate reward.
yeah, I hear ya, but there is a line to be drawn. Capitalism man! You can’t give and give, and get little for it
Cayman is one of the most prosperous islands in the Caribbean. It came from nothing and didn’t achieve incredible success by "Getting little for it."
If you truly understand capitalism it works like this – you have to give and give and HOPE you get. There are no guarantees of success for ones output.
The alternative is don’t give and everyone gets very little, if anything at all.
For a country that has been so successful, the moaning and self pitying really does our people a discredit. Come on now, we are better than that.
Better than that?!? Our impression of our success has all been a political illusion. 20 years of prosperity and lining the pockets of a few greedy few, that is what we have. We are now left in decades of debt, morbidly obese children, the most inactive kids in the world and an illiteracy rate over 50%. We should be ashamed of what is our next generation. The norm has been to keep the public dumb, well…sadly this has succeeded!
They are worried about burdening the island’s infrastructure? It’s a recession and we’re operating at a fraction of capacity as it is? What are these guys talking about?!?
The impact of the 200 bed first phase is negligible in any case. It would have a similar economic impact to re-opening the shuttered Marriott.
This is the problem with Cayman and Caymanians now greed and what’s in it for me today without a thought of what will happen tomorrow.
Amazing. If you don’t mind, can you tell me what is going to happen tomorrow?
Not so. A hotel such as the Marriott would have about one employee per room. This project require doctors and a huge support staff right down to maintenance men and gardeners etc. I do not profess to be an expert but I am guessing 500/600.
Actually you are right on with the hotel but low on the Hospital. In actual fact some hotels don’t even have 1 staff for every room.
Typically a hospital employs 6 to 9 staff per bed. These numbers were consistent with South Miami, Baptist and LA Memorial. These numbers are also close with our own GT Hospital who employs 700+ workers per 140 beds.
If you use those numbers 200 bed would bring around 1,000 to 1,800 staff but that’s only part of it. Sometimes families come with staff so you can probably double that number to get impact on our Islands.
Then we are only speaking of the Hospital and we need to think of the University also. They will need staff and I believe the university is in Phase 1.
In this we are only speaking about the INITIAL impact. The whole project is what is being spoken about and the planning for the complete projects impact on our islands in terms of EVERYTHING.
The point being that it is immaterial. Nothing proposed so far requires a penny of additional infrastructural development when we are operating in a state of under-capacity.
WOW. A completely shallow response.
Okay. Yes we are in a recession but this project will not just span this recession but it will see us come out of it and even possibly go into another.
Let’s keep in mind we are talking about the full project not just 200 beds.
We are talking about: 2,000 bed hospital + University
We are talking about: 12,000 to 20,000 staff and families possibly more
We are talking about: Doubling, Tripling or even quadrupling the traffic on our roadways
We are talking about: Increase of 30%-60% in utility load on CUC
We are talking about: Influx of new religions, languages etc into our Islands
This is the tip of the iceberg of what we are looking at. The 200 bed you speak about is only the start. This needs planning and lots of it.
You think things are crazy now getting to work. If unchecked and unplanned you will have to leave at 3am to get to work at 8am. Slight exaggeration to make a point.
Now think about crime. With more population you can expect a possible increase in crime as more "opportunities" will present themselves and I am not saying the ones coming in are doing the crimes but our own home grown.
Your view of this is far to shallow. You need to think about how it impacts us on every level.
What’s being tabled is a 20+ year plan (if they can secure financing). This will not happen overnight. You can debate "religion" and "crime" and all the other cultural sensitivities, but it’s crazy to contemplate additional infrastuctural expenditures on what is currently an uncertain longterm project. Once phase one is well underway, feel free to revisit this thread.
I heard it is planned for East End – which would minimise the risk on the normal heavy traffic areas – if fact the traffic would be heading in the opposite direct. I could be wrong – but that may not be as much of a problem as you think…….except maybe for the people in East End…then again they may find that they can raise rents – and who knows property values may increase… not such a bad thing.
East End? No way man. Arden would lay down in front of the first bulldozer to move in to clear the property.
It will never happen in East End as long as Arden is around.
No matter what the rest of the PPM says.
Best place would be Northward next to the Prison.
I doubt that Arden would have any objection to the hospital (unlike the Oil refinery and Port) as it does not pose the same risks as these other proposals.
It does not matter if it’s EE or NS or Frank Sound which I feel more doable than the rest. These staff members have to live somewhere and families need to go to school and they need to shop so traffic will increase no matter where it is built.
We are talking thousands more people which we can translate into hundreds more cars. This will affect our traffic you can bet on it.
Now this is where planning for it comes in. What can we do now to start to prepare us for 5 years or 10 years from now? This is where we need to be going.
To put the proposed hospital into perspective, the current George Town hospital run by the HSA has some 160 beds. The proposed private hospital run by Dr. Shetty is going to have some 200 beds.
So you can assume the staffing needs and infastructure needs are somewhere like 1/4 more than the current GT hospital.
Whatever the staffing is for the GT hospital, and maybe add 20% to that number, although granted Dr. Shetty will opperate a hospital in only one disipline (cardio) as opposed to a general hospital, and he runs his hospitals effeciently so maybe staffing won’t be as high as the HSA, but who knows.
One thing for certain is he will need a lot of people. As well as surgens, he will need support doctors, nurses, non-mecial admin staff, catering staff to prepare meals for the patients, laundry staff, drivers, maintence staff…the list is endless.
We need to consider the Labor and Immigration Laws as well. This is a big project and who will the workers and employees be? How will they be paid? How will Immigration manage the status of large influx of people? What part of the pie will Caymanians be able to take? There are many questions, I am sure alot of people would like to be answered.
Have’nt you heard? The project will be staffed by Caymanians. Cardiac Surgeons and all.
Haven’t you heard that the apostrophe goes in the place of the relevant contraction?
Don’t be a Dick. Always trying to prove that you are better than…
Minor typos are acceptable in this kind of forum.
Or, lets not do the project at all and watch unemployment grow with each year of school leavers.
When will Cayman learn the world doesn’t owe us anything? We have to be creative and work very hard just to keep what we have.
Count our blessings. We have many.
I have to laugh whenever I hear things like this. Caymanians, poor souls, you are always worried about the immigration impact of huge projects, how about some of you Caymanians taking these jobs and then others wouldn’t have to be brought in to do them!!!! Totally ridiculous! How about finding out wht you can do for this project and how you can contribute to its success, you all already plan on having to bring in so many people to get it done, without saying "hey, maybe we can do it!"
You know why we are not saying that it’s because we already know that we will not be given the chance to do it. This is a foreigner project and as such they will be bringing in their own foreigners to work there. And they will be allowed to do so by the Government. Most likely Caymanians will hardly get any jobs there just like the Ritz Carlton.