Hospital plans forge ahead

| 07/11/2010

(CNS): The health minister has denied any change regarding the government’s commitment to the proposed hospital development by Dr Devi Shetty. Mark Scotland said that the legislative changes required to the health practitioners and tort laws, part of the deal with the India doctor, would be brought to the Legislative Assembly in the next sitting and the organ donor law would follow soon after. He also said that Shetty and his local partners had identified a short list of possible locations and were examining them for suitability. Responding to a series of opposition questions in the LA on Friday morning, Scotland said he was meeting regularly with Shetty’s team and they had expressed no frustrations.

The minister explained that in its agreement with Shetty, the internationally acclaimed surgeon, to develop a health city in the Cayman Islands, the government had agreed to make certain legislative changes. This included changes to the law to enable doctors with qualifications from India to be able to practice here, creating an exclusivity period for Shetty’s hospital on medical tourism and a cap on damages claims regarding medical malpractice suits, as well as a new law to permit tissue and organ donation.

Scotland said the government was committed to the tort reform, not just because of the Shetty hospital but because of the problems it was causing for other local medical practitioners, such as Ob/Gyns, despite the Law Reform Commission’s recommendations against it. Scotland said the LRC was still in a period of consultation and was seeking input and had not concluded anything yet.

The minister added that government was fully committed to the venture and was moving forward on all the necessary work required to make it a reality.

Aside from having shortlisted the potential locations for his health city, Shetty’s team was preparing the designs for the first phase of the project, which would be a 150 bed tertiary care hospital, Scotland revealed.

“I can say with confidence, based on my discussions with Dr Shetty and his local team that he still remains fully committed to proceeding with all the phases of the project, including an integrated hospital and medical university and assisted-living facility,’ he said. “Government remains fully committed to this project, which we see as an important and integral component in not only creating a medical tourism industry in the Cayman Islands but also increasing local access to tertiary care.”

Scotland dismissed any allegations that there were problems on either the government or the developer’s side and that government was hard at work meeting its commitments under the deal.

Shetty will be in the Cayman Islands this week and will be answering questions at a special Chamber meeting on Wednesday afternoon before delivering a presentation at the country’s first ever national health conference, which opens on Thursday evening.

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  1. McU says:

    For the love of politrix, you people amazes me!

    THIS IS MEDICAL HISTORY IN THE MAKING THAT WILL BENEFIT US AND FUTURE GENERATIONS TO COME

    • jameison says:

      Cayman don’t need medical tourism!  PPM is the party that will do better than this – you just wait and see

  2. samuel says:

    This is indeed good news. I can’t see how people are so blind to party politics that they must comment negatively against those who were behind this Hospital deal. Whether PPM or UDP or Independant, for the good of the country and our economy… this is something that a true and noble Caymanian should be applauding

    I hope this UDP initiative comes to fruition and many Caymanians are blessed from it. XXXX

  3. Anonymous says:

    So has anyone actually explained who is going to pick up the tab if, for example, a baby sustains a serious brain injury at birth as a result of the negligence of the attending physician, the damages are capped at what would be a very tiny fraction of the cost of the care that the child may well need for the rest of their life? The answer at present seems to be that that is just the price you pay to get a new hospital on the island and to "benefit the economy", but I can’t help thinking that those benefits are going to seem like fool’s gold to those who have to pay the price of these reforms.

    The tort reform that the government seems so blindly committed to seems if anything even less well considered than the farce of the Dormant Accounts Law. Yes, a new hospital would be nice, but we can’t lose sight of the fact that the availability of compensatory damages for medical malpractice is a critical part of patient protection. The benefits of having the hospital are fundamentally undermined if patients are going to be left unable to afford the care they need when things go wrong. Although, of course, this applies to only a very small proportion of the patient cohort, that does not justify their sacrifice in the name of the economy.

    • Anonymous says:

      The cost of future medical is not limited by this.

    • anonymous says:

      Well this is what they mean when they mention tort law. It is the tort law that will govern or decide how much compensation the parents will be rewarded if something goes wrong with a child at birth and it is the fault of the physician and hospital staff.

      This is where we really have to watch Big Mac really close to see if THEY WILL SELL US ALL TO DR. SHETTY FOR A FEW SMALL  BUCKS!

      Also two weeks ago the Attorney General was trying to push off a measley $250,000 compensation pay out for punitive damages, well , all of this concerns or is tied to tort law and Dr. Shetty’s hospital. They are catering to him as a DEEP POCKET, not to  you the little poor person who this UDP government thinks little about..

      XXXXX

  4. Anonymous says:

    hospital plans forge ahead? really? come on cns: do a review on the timeline of events and the amount of missed deadlines……..

    12 months later we are still at discussion stage….

    • Halifax says:

      So what…

      I can imagine that if there were little discussion and things were rushed, all like you, would be dogging the Premier over transparency and not doing things step-by-step.

      Your comment just reflects a hate you have for the opposing party, which is sad, because one time Cayman was never so divided over parties 

      • Anonymous says:

        i can’t vote for either party…i’m an expert..sorry i mean expat!

  5. Reason says:

     Receptionist jobs should be for Caymanians?  Wow, you really set your sights low.  

    Is this the best we can hope for with our schools?  Churning out receptionists?  I would hope that the majority of our people would want to aspire to be more.  There lies the problem….

    How about a medical assistant vocational program?  X-Ray technicians taught at UCCI? Medical records as a course?  If you want a new medical tourism industry to give jobs to locals, then locals need to get ready for the jobs!!!

  6. rundown says:

    udp making history / blessing our economy!

    2 thumbs up

  7. Anonymous says:

    Is’nt strange how every time we get a report on this health city it has shrunk in size from the original 2000 beds and two billion investment to a 200 bed first phase and now still shrinking to a 150 tertiary care facility.

    • Anonymous says:

      isn’t it strange how dumb you are that you don’t even know the facts….a 200 bed FIRST PHASE implies further phases, and a gradual progression is how to build such a facility as to allow the necessary infrastructure to grow up around it.  Glad you don’t seem to be too close to the project!!

  8. candice says:

    Do you hear that?

    :o) 

    "Hospital plans forge ahead"

    The PPM (Alden and Kurt) are still unresponsive, still have no explanation as to how they got Cayman’s deficit to 81 million, and still having trouble attacking the good things UDP will be bringing to this country!

    Let me open your eyes :o)

    UDP will for the first time in history introduce into the Cayman Islands MEDICAL TOURISM – a big revenue flow and accomplishment that will create many jobs and qualify many Caymanians. In fact I can assure you, this accomplishment will be mentioned over and over again in the class rooms. Yes… MEDICAL TOURISM!

    LOL

    Now…wouldn’t it be very ungrateful and unappreciative first to God and to your own family to go against this project that will certainly boost the economy?  Wouldn’t it be ungrateful out of envy to attempt to swing the credit from the Premier’s travels and visit to India? 

    WELL DONE, UNITED DEMOCRATIC PARTY!

    This is BIG!  THANK YOU!

    ;o)

    • Anon says:

      This is a joke, right? In that case, very funny.

    • Anonymous says:

      "The PPM (Alden and Kurt) are still unresponsive, still have no explanation as to how they got Cayman’s deficit to 81 million, and still having trouble attacking the good things UDP will be bringing to this country!".

      As I recall there was some controversy about this $81m dollar deficit with the PPM denying it and the FS who months earlier had said there would be a surplus following the elections that this was indeed the real figure. Both that figure and the new estimate of $15m deficit are suspect. However, as it is no secret as to how deficit arose under the PPM administration – roads, schools, govt. administration bldg and a sudden drop in govt. revenue. 

      If the UDP bring good things to the country then I will be the first to applaud them. However, so far they have not accomplished anything that deserves such applause.     

    • Anonymous says:

      Wow – they must have been "Supersizing" that special Kool Aid last weekend. You seem to forget that the $81 Million was a Mac Projection not a real number. Not only that but aren’t you just a tiny bit curious as to why no real evidence has been produced to show any real deficit reduction?

      Being grateful for small things is understandable. Being grateful for the nothing that has actually been delivered is a bit too close to delusional.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Now lets see,how many caymanians get jobs either from the construction of this place,or after it is finished-as we are always told ”it will provide jobs for caymanians”-or lets see how many of our jobs are lost to the other half,of the people coming here to work at this hospital.should our govt.not insist that certain jobs should be for caymanians ?.ie reception-and other jobs like that-yes,we have many local doctors also.however,since we are always told that everything coming here will provide jobs for caymanians-and then they don,t our govtt. needs  to get an agreement from the Dr.that one third or one half of the jobs at this place,will be given only to caymanians.where possible ?.

     

    • Go Green! says:

       I have an idea…..actually make your children learn to read and then make them go to college.  Make this your TOP priority.

      I cannot see any medical employer who would not want to hire a Caymanian nurse or doctor.  Jobs do NOT grow on trees, you have to EARN them and deserve them.  

      The sense of total entitlement needs to GO!  Your grandparents never whined for anyone to "give" them a job so get off your lazy butt and make your own way in this life without asking for a handout, wah-wah.

      • Anon says:

        Broken finger from hitting the "thumbs up". Bravo to this post!

      • Anonymous says:

        You wrote "I cannot see any medical employer who would not want to hire a Caymanian nurse or doctor".

        Might I suggest you "see" the C I Health Services Authority? They have a history of not wanting to hire Caymanian doctors.

        • Reason says:

           Ok, name Caymanian doctors who qualified overseas and were refused employment here, please…that just does not sound right, I’m sorry.  The HR Dept at HSA is the most pro-Cayman group I’ve ever seen.

          • Anonymous says:

            don’t ask awkward questions!

          • Anonymous says:

            CNS would probably not publish the list…..but check on the Marl Road and you will know what’s what!

  10. Anonymous says:

     Where’s the Like button?