Health city undertakes specialist procedure
(CNS): Updated — The new East End hospital opened by leading international cardiac surgeon Dr Devi Shetty has undertaken its first electrophysiology study (EPS) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) on a patient from Trinidad and Tobago. Hospital officials said patients needing this type of medical treatment would previously have had to go to the United States but now Cayman is able to offer this specialist procedure to patients across the region. The state-of-the-art 140-bed medical facility, which has been open for three months, is offering high level medical expertise and officials have now confirmed that over 100 patients have passed through the doors.
While expectations are still running high that Health City Cayman Islands will make a significant contribution to the economy of East End and kick start medical tourism, the hospital is awaiting specialist accreditation which will allow it to attract patients from North America and it is not clear when the numbers of patients will begin to make an impact. However officials stated Tuesday that patient numbers have been steadily increasing.
At present the hospital is dependent on regional and local patients and is one of the few facilities within the region wheresuch procedures as the electrophysiology study (EPS) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) can be carried out.
Officials from the facility said that for every ten to fifteen cardiac centres in the world, only one centre will perform this procedure, “a testament to the high level of expertise found at Health City Cayman Islands.”
Ideal for neighbouring Caribbean islands, patients are now able to shorten their travel time for tertiary care, and avoid the high cost of travel and visa requirements for equivalent care within the United States or elsewhere, the hospital stated. Officials did not state how the patient came from Trinidad as airlift poses a problem for patients from the region as some will still need to go via the US to get to Cayman.
Nevertheless, the hospital is focused on becoming the go to place in the Caribbean and central America for cardiac treatment.
“We believe Health City’s ability to offer such a highly specialised procedure will be of great benefit to Cayman residents having cardiac rhythm disorders (palpitations) because they now do not need to go through the trouble and expense of going overseas for such a procedure. Our international patients can also benefit from this new procedure, receiving treatment in a world class destination, providing a pleasurable and holistic recovery process,” Dr Ravi Kishore, Chief Interventional Cardiologist and Electrophysiologist at Health City Cayman Islands, who performed the procedure said.
He explained why such a course of action may be necessary for a patient in a release on Monday:
“An EPS is a procedure used to evaluate the electrical conduction system of the heart. Patients might be referred for an EPS because they may be experiencing abnormal electrical impulses through their heart: it may be beating too fast, slow, or irregularly. The aim of an electrophysiology study is to analyse the cause of the abnormal heart rhythm and guide any further treatment options,” he said.
Category: Health
I wonder how much the patient from T&T paid, and how this compares to the cost of the procedure in the US?
TERRIBLEhealth care…
at the local hospitals, that is both very deficient and very expensive…
In my own case, I was diagnosed with a kyste on each kidney at GTH by MRI…
A year later, after peeing more blood than urine, CTMH found that I has a cancerous tumour to the RIGHT kidney…
I sent the MRI CD to the 2 best hospitals in Paris – where health care is one of the best AND CHEAPEST in the world – and was told to come urgently because of an inoperable tumour to the LEFT kidney, in addition to the one that was operable on the RIGHT…
After losing the LEFT kidney and having the right one partially amputated, I returned to Grand Cayman a month later to confront the radiologist at CTMH: he still could not see the tumour of the collecting tubes of the LEFT kidney on the MRI…
A year later, blood reappeared in urine. A local urologist operated using a non-flexible cystoscope and removed a small tumour of the same nature as those of the kidneys from the bladder. However, he used such a large catheter that I was in a great deal of pain after the operation. I asked the nurse to remove it some 7 hours after the operation, as I had not see the urologist the whole time: as it slowly came out, the pain was excrutiating – something that had never happened before with a catheter…
Upon learning that I cleared myself out of the hospital in a rage, the urologist ceased all communications and left me to fend for myself, in spite of blood in the urine that continues to this day…
If I could find a lawyer willing to take both these cases on a contingency basis, I certainly would, as health care in Grand Cayman STINKS to high HELL!…
Btw, the MRI SCAM continues unabated: it now costs US$3,100.00 for an abdominal MRI with contrast through he private company operating the MRI unit at the local hospital, while the REAL cost is about $450.00 in the US, $200.00 in Honduras, $235.00 in France and around $400.00 in Jamaica…
This is one of the reasons that Caymanians pay such a high price for health insurance…
When will the government step in and prevent GREED from making certain procedures unaffordable on island and provide a FORUM where patients can publically complain about the lack of professionalism of certain doctors in the health field in Grand Cayman??…
A 140 bed hospital and in only three months more than 100 patients have passed through the doors. Did all of them need one of those beds? I'll bet they didn't. Can you say, "Boondoggle"?
Troll.
Troll of a Troll
Will Jamaicans need visas to come here to the hospital?
Do we need visas to go to hospital in the U.S.?
Jamaica has been doing cardiac catheterisations for decades
If not longer.
Hundreds of years in fact.
I had EPS and cardiac catheterization done in the U.S.and the cost of it to my insurance was staggering.
If you spell catheterisation correctly you receive a substantial discount.
Are you taking the piss or is that a catheter in your pocket?
He got it done in the US….zzzzzz
Yes but the poster was not writing about it in the US. If the procedure was done in France, why would he use the French term on this site?
Well done on mastering the ancient art of "cut and paste". One day you will learn to think for yourself. But I suspect subtle concepts like humour will always be too much for you, given your literalist reaction to the thread.
Blame the Spell Checker. It came up with the word.
Done in the U.S. and the price was "staggering". How much would it be at Health City?
Lets be clear here – RFA might be a 'specialist' procedure in Cayman, but it is by no means a 'specialist' procedure. You would be more accurate in saying something along the lines of – HCCI is finally offering a procedure that the GT hospital has been unable to provide the residents of this island despite the money and expertise being pumped into the facility.
I certainly want someone highly specialized if I ever have it. Why so cranky?
I'm not trying to be cranky, just sad that an island with the resources like ours has had to wait this long for someone from off the island to come and build a brand new hospital before we have access to health care procedures that have been around for a decade or more.
As someone who works in the health care industry, I just think it is really unfair and unnecessary that an island with the standard of living that we have, the amount of amazing doctors there are on island and the existing health care facilities and we still are forcing our people to make expensive trips abroad or even in an air ambulance for procedures that are really not considered specialised anymore. Even worse when you consider that there are people who are more than qualified on island to provide these kinds of services, myself included.