Mac heads to India
(CNS): The next stop on the world tour for the Cayman Islands premier is Bangalore in India. McKeeva Bush is leading a delegation this week, which includes Health Minister Mark Scotland and local businessman, Gene Thompson, in order to attend the opening of world famous cardiac surgeon Dr Devi Shetty’s new healthcare facility there. The move indicates that the plans by the Narayana Hrudayalaya Group to open a medical facility in the Cayman Islands are still being supported by the CIG, despite the fact that the project will be a private sector initiative. A local spokesperson for the group said the fact that the premier was making the trip showed great promise for the initiative.
“We are enormously encouraged by the positive responses we have received, both in the Cayman Islands and internationally, to this important initiative,” said David Legge, the spokesperson for Gene Thompson, the Narayana Hrudayalaya Group’s Cayman director, who is co-ordinating the project here on island. “The process is currently moving forward and we expect to be able to make further announcements regarding the project early in the New Year.’
Legge noted that it would not be long before more details of how the proposed facility will take shape, including the size and scale of the hospital and where it is likely to be located.
The plans for the $1 billion development of this healthcare facility were first announced last month, and although details have yet to be confirmed, Dr Shetty has said he is hoping to create a 2,000 bed hospital in the Cayman Islands. The project is being described as one of the largest single developments ever in Cayman funded by the private sector. The health minister has said there is no public sector involvement but that government is supporting Dr Shetty’s plans.
“We have been in discussions with this group, but we have not offered them land or any other form of partnership,” Scotland said, adding that government welcomed the investment as it will generate much-needed long-term economic activity outside Cayman’s traditional revenue streams of tourism and financial services. “This endeavour will help to create a more diverse economy that is better insulated from economic downturns. It will also promote medical tourism in our Islands.”
In an interview with the WSJ, Dr Shetty says the hospital in the Cayman Islands will primarily serve Americans in search of lower-cost medical care. The plan, he says, is to build and run a 2,000-bed general hospital where procedures, both elective and necessary, will be priced at least 50% lower than what they cost in the US, which Dr Shetty hopes will draw Americans who are either uninsured or need surgery that their plans don’t cover.
With his revolutionary low cost health system, Dr Shetty’s facility will offer services to Caymanians as well. “This is an incredibly exciting project and an extremely positive development for the islands in many ways,” Legge said.
The construction of the hospital when it starts would obviously provide a considerable number of new jobs on the island, and once the project is up and running, not only will it offer affordable healthcare to locals, it is expected to attract thousands of visitors.
“Medical tourism is one of the fastest growing ‘new industries’ in the world and countries are embracing it to improve healthcare for their citizens, lower local costs for major surgeries and procedures, and re-energize their economies,” Legge added. “Cayman, given its proximity to the US, appears especially well-suited to bring medical professionals, patients, and infrastructure to its shores.”
Dr Shetty, who was Mother Teresa’s personal heart physician, says he wants to make Cayman a centre of excellence in healthcare. At his flagship 1,000-bed Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital, surgeons operate at a capacity virtually unheard of in the US, where the average hospital has 160 beds, according to the American Hospital Association.
Narayana’s 42 cardiac surgeons performed 3,174 cardiac bypass surgeries in 2008, more than double the 1,367 the Cleveland Clinic, a US leader, did in the same year. His surgeons operated on 2,777 paediatric patients, more than double the 1,026 surgeries performed at Children’s Hospital Boston.
Dr Shetty’s success rates are also impressive. The Narayana Hrudayalaya reported a 1.4% mortality rate within 30 days of coronary artery bypass graft surgery, one of the most common procedures, comparedwith an average of 1.9% in the US in 2008, according to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
Category: Headline News
I wonder woild the effect be on the local private health care market. It sounds that this project could spell the death bell for private Caymanian medical practices.
you complainers are pathetic.
anything that is "Good News" you put it down.
anything that is "Bad News" you complain about.
Miserable bad minded people.
Thank God none of you are in charge!
to 14:44, Sort of reminds you of the UDP for the past four years, doesn’t it? I can’t ever remember anyone complaining as much as the UDP did during the PPM administration! Now they were complainers! You just do not like it now because the shoe is on the other foot! But you know what, we don’t care how you feel, so shut up, because we not gonna stop complaining about the UDP & Bush while they are destroying our country, so SHUT UP! OK? Get use to it!
The Hospital project seems to be a pretty big one. I’m curious, Is this just another big development opportunity for billionaires to make billions of dollars more in this jurisdiction while the poor hungry and jobless natives look on or does Mr. Mckeeva Bush plan on sharing his plan on how he will ensure permanent positions for those Caymanians that should be first choice of hire. Cayman Has medical Doctors, and Medical technicians already trained with experience, and as far as staffing, the same calibre of people that works in the government hospital and private hospitals here, will and should be able to work in this new projected hospital with the additional training needed to com[ply with this new hospital off shore health care systems.Are there any checks and balances ?Does Mr. Bush plan on providing/ensuring some training for thoselocal applicants with no healthcare experience or do we have to hear the same song and dance; "Caymanians don’t have the experience necessary to fill these positions at this new Mega Hospital and therefore he starts inviting the whole world one more time promising them work at this facility granting them an unlimited number of work permits that will further keep his people at bay away from employmet; On the outside looking on the inside. OR Is this a part of the financial projection plans to put the Cayman Islands back on its feet ?. We need to know just how will the Cayman Islands benefit from this project seeing that we already have a government hospital. Is there going to be some kind of built in government tax into the services rendered. Bringing patients into the island is not necessarily inviting equal numbers of tourists. Mr. Mackeeva Bush where is the Plan B section of this Big projection that ensures Jobs for Caymanians and Revenue for thegovernment Treasury? How is government going to benefit from this, because this is huge and we really want to know where government fits in. Please tell us how will this happen based on your plans. Also, why did you not include a Medical Doctor ormaybe Mr. Anthony Eden the former minister of Health to take this business trip with you?, these kinds of projects and financial projections for our economy is not about the elected party nor the cabinet, its about the country and the people and we expect Leadership to act more mature, and open minded outside of party politics. All political parties should be involved in the planning of this project. We don’t want any surprises, and we need to know how much money if any Government will inject into this project, because we have no money. since we have no money, tell us exactly who will be benefitting from this Mega project. Set up some town hall meetings, this is our country and we want to know every fine detail.
Please understand we are not against progressbut the people have endured so much hardship and abuse already by the government systems that we want to be mindful and watchful of every move that is being made regardint this huge project, and whenever there;s a lot of money involved, there’s also usually a lot of selling out taking place as well, its our duty as big brothers and big sisters to look out for those that have already been trampled to the ground, while we appreciate that Mr. Bush has provided temporary or work in asking the people to cleanup the streets with a limited budget, we are reminding government that when these large development projects relocate to this jurisdiction that the first duty of a premiere and the whold elected government is to look out for its people. That is the practice ofr every leader of every country. This letter was written without bias or prejudice but pure concern.
The main and primary concern is that ;If this new health facility being built is supported this strongly by the premiere, just how much harm will be done to the government hospital revenue if it is unable to compete with this healthcare state of the art monster (huge)
Mr. Ezzard Miller please answer this one.Give us your thoughts
Florence Goring-Nozza
I can answer for Mr. Miller, this project is going no where, if you believe for one milli-second MB worries about Caymanians, you are sadly mistaken.
Anyway I wont say anymore when reality sets in and they finally come down from Mars, they will realize their miscalculations.s scaled down 10 to 13 times would work. There are too many things that are way beyond the reach of MB and GENE.
They will soon be coming back to the public justifying all these wasted travel expenses.
For the life of me I cannot understand why your comment received "thumb downs".
I think you raised excellent points.
Cayman, this is what we all need to be doing – proactively dissecting all new proposals by our leaders.
Recent history has shown that we were foolish to have not done so in the past.
This is not about "whining" or trying to "bring down" the goverment – this is about attempting to ascertain the feasibility of a positive impact upon the lives of Caymanians.
Cost of construction in the Cayman Islands = Very high
Cost of living in the Cayman Islands = Very high
Therefore, I am confused as to how his medical business model can be effectively applied in this country.
Sounds like this will require (notably post construction) a mass influx of even more of the "imported poverty" that has taken place in this country in the past 7 years to keep afloat this grand project.
Again, Caymanians do not live 8 to a 2 bed apartment, therefore, the offered wages will not be very attractive to the average Caymanian at all.
Sounds suspiciously like (government) business as usual. Promises to the nation at the time of pre-construction, thereafter, the proverbial anti-climax at the commencement of operations.
(Welcome all views and opinions.)
You are right. We should all just give up on Cayman and let it go down the drain.
Ex-pats can go home.
Caymanians of means can move to the U.S./UK
Poor Caymanians can go to Jamaica.
All of the whiners on this website shoot down any initiative the government comes up with, but I have never seen a viable alternative solution. So before complaining about eveyone else, why don’t you try and come up with your own idea.
whodatis,
You make a very good point about the "imported poverty". For too long, we have done this and look what this has brought upon us..the crime in this country is directly related to the "importation of poverty" from other parts of the world…if you honestly look at when the escalation of crime began in this country I am sure people will see a direct correlation to the amount of "imported poverty" which was brought here for huge projects in the past 10 years…can you say Ritz Carlton, Camana Bay, etc.???
Why Cayman?
This hospital would serve American customers, who like English speaking countries… Panama already has such hospitals but as a rule Americans don’t go there.
If you asked the average American where they would like to go, a third world country, a latin country… or an English colony… 95% would choose the latter… that being… "The Cayman Islands".
Medical tourists exist for the same reason that you shop in Miami…
Southern Florida tri-county area has perhaps 50-60 hospitals of 300-400 beds … this is something on the order of 27,000 hospital beds within a one hour direct flight of Grand Cayman.
Those hospital beds are ALL occupied and generally run $3-4,000 per day.
If just 5% of that one single market went price shopping, our 2,000 bed hospital would be running at capacity almost as soon as it opened its doors.
This doctor, has a proven track record of providing better medical care at a lower cost and showing a return on the investment in building the facility.
There are more than enough billionaires in India who are more than willing to fund this project.
This project is bigger than Paradise Island casino in the Bahamas… would employ more people, generate more revenue and be much better for the local economy.
This is a win/win/win/win project. Cayman Islands government wins with stamp duties and permit fee’s. Investors win, the users win and the local economy and people win.
The comparison with Paradise Island in the Bahamas is unfortunate when you bear in mind what happened at the Atlantis Resort earlier this year.
It seems strange to me that a facility like this should be placed on a remote island in the an area with an annual hurricane season.
What happens if the hospital has it’s full quota of 2000 patients and ‘Ivan the Second’ turns up on the doorstep?
Will the patients be given priority evacuation (presumbly at the expense of other residents) or will they simply seal the place up (again shutting out locals) and ride the whole thing out?
If it looks to good to be true – it probably is.
What happened at the Atlantis Resort earlier this year?
Why not Jamaica? Every answer that you have to "why Cayman" applies equally or better for Jamaica.
1. Jamaica has a bigger and better medical school than Cayman.
2. Jamaica has more direct flights to more destinations in the USA than Cayman.
3. Jamaica has more hotel rooms than Cayman.
4. Jamaica has more indigineous people of Indian descent than Cayman.
5. Jamaica has more available land at much lower prices than Cayman.
6. Jamaica has lower wages than Cayman, and a better educated (generally speaking) population actively seeking work than we have in Cayman.
Over fifty years ago Mr. Southwell came to Cayman to recruit seamen for National Bulk Carriers because we were the best available at the price he was willing to pay. It was good for us and for the company so it was a win/win situation while it lasted.
We became the fifth largest financial centre because we had the best combination of legal, accounting, and banking minds gathered in one jurisdiction under suitable laws that allowed its development at that time.
Forgive me for not being gung-ho and saying "Cayman is the best!" just because my forefathers have been here for hundreds of years. There are other Macs and Genes available in other places, so any time someone tells me "this will be great for Cayman" I have heard that so many times before that the cynic in me says "What’s in it for you?".
Jamaica is ruled by corrupt thugs and you are not safe leaving all-inclusive resorts. In fact, some of the resorts do not even allow you to leave unescorted.
Jamaica has high taxes not too mention the theft by the government.
Jamaica does not have secure property rights (future gov’t comes takes over the facility at no compensation to the owners).
Jamaica may or may not be willing to pass a law to cap medical malpractice insurance.
Americans will not feel comfortable going to Jamaica, which is seen as a third-world country, for medical care. Deserving or not, Cayman is seen as a luxurious first-world country for most of the U.S.
Why not Jamaica, indeed??? Probably because Mr. Shetty wants to be able to operate on patients and have them return home in one piece….not shot to death as they leave the hospital…
If you asked the average American where they would like to go, a third world country, a latin country… or an English colony… 95% would choose the latter… that being… "The Cayman Islands".
I guess they better get their medical treatment quick once it is built as I believe that there will be less ‘English Colonies’ in the not too distant future.
I still think that the hospital project should go ahead, it may be the only way I can get my property sold before the mass scramble takes place in five years.
India’s cost of living is very very low so wages are low. Can he built a hopsital, staff it, supply it and pay low wages with the cost of living in Cayman being as high as it is?? I think not. So how do you keep the cost down while doing business in Cayman? Can you really make it affordable for others to buy or use your service. ?? Please let the rest of us know so we can change whatever it is we are doing now!!
I am not sure about USA folks coming here for heart surgery. Most cardiac patients are over 55 years of age. Most have health insurance but as it is with Medicare (coverage for those over 62 or 65) it will not pay for services out of the USA. Will he bill in Cayman or USA dollar, remember the 22-25% loss of the USA dollar.
Now what if a family member does have surgery. Most of us have been to the USA and know the cost for motels, rental cars and food. So compare the cost and tell me if family members will be happy to pay our prices here.
I know most cardiac surgeries require pre op care, hospital stay and follow-up care and this can be weeks ask anyone from here who has experienced a surgery of this type in the states.
Yes this would greatly reduce the number of people living here from ever having to go to the USA for this type of surgery but do you really think a USA patient would want to leave his/her country to come to a strange country and have a major surgery???
I almost forgot, most "major" cardiac surgery is done following a heart attack and those patients are not able to travel. So how does the patients take the time to arrange air flights, forgot Cayman Airlines is not cheap, and get a passport for not only themselves but family members???
Any help with answers???
If you bother to read the article….Chetty has factored these costs in…In India he does open heart surgery for 15.000 dollars, the same op in the US costs 150.000 dollars, heis looking at being able to offer the same op at 50% of the cost of the US Market ie: 75.000 dollars…His model is sound…At the moment he is filling all his hospitals in India with US patients (travelling all the way to a third world country) at twice the airfare and six times the distance….
Medical Tourism is big business, being an hour from the US means he can offer a more attractive proposition for thise Gun shy americans whio dont want to travel to INDIA…Do your research before you comment….Otherwise dont comment…
Hope this Hospital if built by Tom Jones International will turn out better than the Schools project. Maybe the local partners of TJI will finish the schools as hospitals . . . since they are on to this new project.
Mac is simply following the Leader here. Gene Thompson from the well known Development family is spearheading this and Mac is simply tagging along for curiosity sake.
I am sure that if Gene Thompson did not see substantial benefits here he would not be going after it.
Mac on the other hand is just being curious because anything that sounds this good is certain to make anyone curious. Lets hope they bring back a signed MOU when they return.
It is clear that some people would find a fault with Jesus if he landed here now, in particular if MAC met him at the airport!
Most of the posts here border on silly. It is clear that a hospital, especially one with Dr. Shetty’s name attached will be a huge benefit to Cayman. Dr. Shetty has made his name from providing a high quality of Medical Treatment/surgery for a significantly lower cost.
I can imagine that the majority of patients will come from the US and Canada but having such a facility here would be good for the locals as well that have to now hope that the 8 hour wait for an air ambulance is not too long.
Having, lets say, 2000 patients here would immediately add over 4000 “tourists” here (think taxis, hotels, restaurants, etc) Think of all the construction, import duties, heavy equipment, etc. Think of the operations, imports of supplies, gases, equipment, traveling sales teams from the Pharmaceuticals companies, think of all the people supplying that facility, and yes we will undoubtedly have a knock on of more work permits but of course also more Caymanian jobs.
Most importantly, this is not a seasonal business like tourism. There will always be a need of the hospital unlike the financial centre.
The model of Shetty from what I read on the internet is high volume and control of costs. I am sure that the salaries of the Doctors and Nurses are tightly controlled maybe even with Indians coming here to do that. But the benefits of the knock on effect is significant and in my opinion, worth it. And yes Ihope Dr Shetty makes a lot of money to keep the facility here. I am sure in this worldwide recession, many other countries are vying for this facility.
Let us get over the petty politics and support this idea….unless you prefer paying income and property taxes.
I wish you would wake up and smell the coffee and come to back to your senses. We all support the idea, but the reality is Cayman doesn’t have the necessary infrastructure to support this idea.
Show me where the infrastructure is?
This all sounds good on paper, but reality is different. This doc could be Jesus himself, I can’t be convinced that all this "gapseed" is not rubbish.
13;50, you seem to think this is a one way street! It was ok with you when the UDP found fault when "Jesus landed" while PPM were the government? Try & grow up & stop getting upset with the licks unna taking! You UDP cry-babies can’t take what you give or what? Now shut the eff up & get a life!
Doesn’t anyone wonder why "world famous cardiac surgeon Dr Devi Shetty" singled out Cayman to build a heathcare facility? There are far more deserving places – e.g. Indonesia, or any number of African countries. There are countries closer to India. There are places with lower development and operating costs. So, why Cayman?
Maybe it has something to do with profits he expects to make, either on the development/real estate, or in business profits (that’s medical fees to you and me) or taxes he hopes to save?
The scale of the project suggests that he either feels that Cayman is a very sick place, or soon will be. Maybe he has read the reports about Cayman’s sky-rocketing childhood obesity rates and forecasts that heart disease will be a major problem/money-earner in Cayman over the next decade? Mr. Bush and his entouage may want to consider bringing more sports into schools – say four hours a week and swap burgers for bananas, rather than handing control of such a huge project to Mr. Shetty.
Maybe Mr. Shetty thinks he can operate more efficiently than the HSA? Given that my three year-old neice could probably operate more efficiently than the HSA, Mr. Shetty is probably right.
BEING A PHILANTHROPIST COSTS MONEY…The more you make the more you can help…
Cayman is close to the US. That’s the market he is after.
Funny… I’m glad it wasn’t your three year old neice but in fact the HSA that has saved my life on many occasions. Some people live well into their 90s with serious health problems with only the HSA to thank. It’s time we gave that group of over-worked-and-under-paid people who are giving the majority of their lifetimes to our care the credit they deserve.
Why some of you caymanians reason so poor……..
The choice of Balti houses and Tandoori restaurants which will follow will be amazing. The prices will be kept down as there will be a lot of competition. The revenue will be kept by the families running the businesses and the staff will be supplied by extended families and friends keeping overheads down further still.
To supply these, family members and friends will be quick to open up wholesale suppliers buying in bulk and selling with only a fraction of the profits normally seen in most supermarkets.
I say ‘Bring it on’! The sooner the better!
It would be great food, great prices and good service all round!
Hi Friends,
Dr Shetty has the assets and the ear of Indias richest 25 families, he is very well respected bu the wealthiest and the elite…He has always delivered on his promise…I think you would find he has already done a feasibility study – done by experts and not people who think they understand development…I will mark your words but mark mine…The only reason why he wont do this is beacause Caymanians will chase them away…like the Finacial Services sector and Hotel Developers…
I have a shuttled fueled and waiting compliments of Dr Shetty.
Silly comments silly silly silly.
You think someone who is going to spend a billion dollars hasn’t thought about all that before opening his mouth? You think this thing is as behind thought process as it would seem to be. He is talking about starting constructions by June 2010, do you honestly think the location hasn’t been set up as yet?
Look things like these takes months, years even to hash out. You need first the land and then you look about how you use the land in terms of design of the facility. Hospitals are built around efficiency as certain facilities needs to be near other facilities. The designing can take many months to work out as plans are rehashed over and over.
Trust me when I say this project is much further along in terms of where it is going and if the land has been bought as yet.
Am I concern about certain aspects of it like the share volume of people (that we don’t have) to run this place. The accommodations needing to be built to house the staff. The strain on the transportation.
But this is something we need and we need to find ways around it.
Along time ago we created this "go east" initiative that never took off. MAYBE this is what does it. I would venture to say that if this is located on teh eastern side of the Island as I feel it will be it WILL jump start this process and maybe this is how we strike that balance transportation/infrastructure wise.
Please don’t be so naive to think that this hasn’t been thought out. We are just the only ones who don’t know what the plans are.
What I can tell you is Big Mac will be giving out Work Permits like a drive thru window. The share numbers would call for that. He all but told us this already. Just think about all the comments he has been making about attracting foreign investors and making things easier for them. That was THIS he was speaking about. He was setting us up for THIS project.
To be honest he didn’t have to do it because I tend to think we need it. Tourism is on its way down.
Hi Dred,
You wake up yet? You dont understand time is against them the doctor will have make his choice soon! Infrastracture can’t wait, it needs to be built.
TIME. Against who? Hey you silly child. Do you actually think this project started a month or two ago? Trust me on this. When they spoke of where and I mean Cayman, Jamaica, Mexico or on the moon they never spoke in terms of generality. They were saying:
Here are our choices:
We have first Mexico and this location(s). Here are the pros and cons of Mexico and the location. This will include everything from construction materials, companies, legal system, financial implications, infrastructure, medical sector concerns and a host of other things that haven’t even begun to come to my mind. They have poured over demographics, country stability, crime, global view of Mexico and God knows what else.
Then we have Cayman Islands and this location(s) and all the same crap from Mexico.
You seem to think the only decisions are which plot of land but it goes far more deeper than that. Taxes, banking, legal system and a plethora of other things all go into teh decision.
When Dr Shetty basically said it was Cayman what he was saying to us was this:
Of the choices the Cayman Islands and a special location was the absolute best option. He doesn’t only know what piece of land, he has had his plans drawn up for the place. He probably already knows what color his drapes are for God’s sake.
We here are so far out of clue as to where this project is at we will look stupid even talking about it. I don’t have a deep enough background to even begin to fathom what something like this would take to set out. The Caymana Bay comes to mind and they could tell you it took years just to get stuff on paper as to what they were going to do.
Anyways, the long and short is this thing is a far more advanced stage than we know.
Just because I tell you the sky is purple means you have to believe me. Same goes with them telling you they don’t knwo where. They do. They already own the land.
The Premier tours the world for the third time in 6 months !!!
Didn’t he say we were broke and couldn’t pay salaries and pensions ???????????????????
XXXXXX
THIRD trip in 6 months???? You got it wrong! This is Mac’s 6th trip in 6 months, but I agree that he has had 3 extended vacations, oooooooooooops, sorry, I mean 3 world tours! But he has spent more time away than here in 6 months, & I can guarantee that he, Mckeeva Bush, will NOT be able to PROVE any gains from these many trips & wasted money! And by "PROVE it" I don’t mean for him to just SAY these trips were successful, we need to see PHYSICAL evidence that the trips had results, we want to SEE the results, not just HEAR about it!
Anyone who thinks that this scheme will bring jobs to the Caymanian people is being delusional. Nobody would work for the pay and conditions; not just Caymanians, almost nobody in the western world would.
Dont understand your comment "Decent Indian meal will increase dramatically, will please a lot of Brit’s? Clarify.
Anyone who would listen to you is delusional.
As usual there will be a lack of planning by the government just like the West Bat cruise dock, Boatswains Beach, Pedro, the road system and its infrastructure etc etc. I agree with the above post if his numbers are correct then they are frightening.If the service providers number 20,000 what about the knock on effect with housing [ good to take up the slack] but domestic workers, schools, motor vehicles and the general island infrastructure.
May I suggest before we think further about this that the Government employs a good accounting firm to do a study. That way we all know where we stand.
Another example of our Premier thinking with his pocket and not his brain!
At least he is thinking, this is years ahead of previous government
The worker base will realistically be around 6000 , not 20.000…at the moment Caymanians will stand to benefit from rental houses and condos….
Governemnt has no role in the project, if hey did it would be complete mess up, this is private enterprise and qaulified experts are needed to put a project of this nature together…So do not worry over Governemnets involvement they have none, this is a private investment not Governement project…
If you want a development to fail ask an accounting firm to do a study, you need aprofessional Hospital consulting firm to work in tangent with a qaulified planning and infrastructure development team to ensure correct facilitation…
This is good news for Cayman
I take issue with this message. Accounting firms employ industry experts and have a huge amount of expertise in the medical industry. With several hundred medical captive insurance companies here what do you think they are doing without industry expertise?
I remind you as an analogy that many years ago Coopers and Lybrand were commissioned to do a report on Tourism by the Government of the day. It was widely acknowledged as being one of the best reports ever given to Government.Pity that Government ignored the recommendations particularly about roads and gridlocks.[ A copy is available for those that would like one; a small charge will be made]
Perhaps if Government in 2004 had asked an accounting firm to do a feasibilty study on the turtle firm we might have saved ourselves a few million dollars, and avoided the strange circumstances surrounding commissions with best mates on loan borrowing and managerial loans, as reported upon very well by Dan the audit ma.
I would be interested to know the sourse of the statistics whether it be for 6,000 or 20,000 beds. I suspect that neither reader has a decent source of information.
In any event I must agree with a previous poster about infrastructure. No more shooting from the hip!!
Chris my issue is not based on accounting firms but rather that it is deemed acceptable to have an accounting firm do a feasibility study, rather than a specialised Hospital Consultancy firm, some of the larger accounting firms overseas have specialised divisions that deal with these specialised fields and or outsource them this is what is needed.
With all due respect accountants are good with numbers, and only industry specific conusltants working in tangent with accounting firms will produce the correct result.
My clarification is that the correct research and feasibility needs to be carried out with the correct groups providing the correct anlaysis.
No offence to accounting firms, I use them a lot…
Hey I am curious where your numbers are coming from. Did you manage to get any numbers out of India on huch staff they usually have per bed?
I dug up as much as I could and found nothing credible. Not that the info might not be out there, I just couldn’t locate it.
What I did do is to look at the US model. I took two hospitals to task on their staff could and then compared this against various larger hospitals around the US like LA Medical Center in LA and ome Boston hospitals and all pointed to a staff per bed of 7 to 9.
Baptish had 5,500 staff and 680 beds if myory serves me and South Miami 3,600 and 480 beds or there abouts. A few were actually higher but most were right in there around 8/bed.
Now the Indian model could be different but with them coming out to the Western Hemisphere I wonder how far off teh beaten path they would be willing to go to maintain credibility. They say when in Rome yuo do as the Roman’s do. I would think that maybe 5 to 6 would be their range.
I would be interested to know where your numbers came from tho?
Dred Asia is just more effecient
From a medical Tourism Hospital currently catering to Medical Tourists in India :
http://www.mediescapes.com/Manipal_Hospital_India.html
They do not make a 3 dollar profit on a 15 Cents syringe or a 1 dollar profit on a 5 cent needle…
A 2000 bed hospital, at appoximately 10 medical service providers per bed, will require that 20,000 service providers enters the work force. Clearly we do not have 20,000 Caymanian medical service providers, does this mean that we will be importing 20,000 Indian medical workers into Cayman? This may mean 20,000 workers plus this spouses, children and possibly extended family. What will this do to our demographics? How will our born Caymanians feel about being outnumbered by an Indian diaspora?
At least we will have plenty of available accomodation for them once we have driven off all the financial sector employees but where will all these children go to school I wonder?
Probably pretty much how they feel right now being outnumbered by the Jamaican diaspora…Go figure!!…
daft….daft….daft
10 Service providers per bed, I di not know julius caesaer would be staying for treatment…The point of a Medical Tourism Hospital is to offer low cost highly skilledmedical operations, this is Dr Shetty’s business model…
Do not making staffing assumptions based on the US and Cayman Hospital health services industry…These models are so wrong compared to other countries…
There is a reason why they can do open heart surgery in one Chettys hospitals for $15.000, when the same operation will cost $150.000 in the US…The US and Cayman are two of the only countries in the world where it is deemed morally correct to make a profit from someones illness…
I would be more concerned about getting the hospital here, this will generate huge revenues for Cayman, the staff levels will probably be about a third of the 10 service providers per bed? After every patient finishes treatment they will need tpo relax for a week or two, huge support for out Tourism industry…
Once the Hospital is here, I believe there will be a medical university attached and through correct government regulation control of the succession program, this could create a great opportunity for young Caymanians to enter the medical field.
The revenues generated for Government from this project will save your children and grandchildren from the need for direct taxation…
Dubai has an 80% expatriot workforce. With this hospital and other similar efforts we can be there very quickly. Is this the new yardstick and is that what Caymanians want? I think not.
If so Big Mac you had better get those schools going and introduce Indian teachers.