Health City Cayman Islands has partnered with cardiologists and other physicians from around the Caribbean to offer tertiary care to patients throughout the region, according to a press release from the hospital.

 

The facility — predicted to be one of the territory’s main regional competitors should the Virgin Islands’ fledgling medical tourism industry get off the ground — has even gone so far as directing charter flights to transport patients from St. Maarten to Grand Cayman for specialised medical treatment.

Tertiary care is consultative care conducted by specialists in a centre with the resources for special investigation and treatment, according to John Hopkins Medicine. It usually happens after a referral from a patient’s primary or secondary medical care professional.

In Health City’s first three years, it has seen more than 29,000 patients treated, including performing almost 2,000 procedures, according to the press release. Of those, there were more than 640 orthopaedic surgeries and more than 280 cardiac surgeries, which had overall infection and readmission rates of less than one percent.

In May 2016, the Atlantic Clinic incorporated in the territory with the intention of facilitating medical tourism in the VI.

TAC saw its first medical tourism client the following month, and held local clinics in November, January and March, stretching its network to about 30 surgeons, according to Dr. David Vincent, a neurosurgeon and one of the company’s two co-founders.

In May, TAC organised a conference here designed to promote the territory’s medical tourism industry to about 40 medical professionals. From that group, an additional 10-15 surgeons have begun the initial stages of joining TAC’s network, said Lisa Vincent, the company’s co-director of nursing and Dr. Vincent’s spouse.

The June 2016 procedure remains TAC’s only medical tourism client from abroad, though the company has facilitated local procedures, Ms. Vincent told the Beacon last week. In order to secure clients from the United States, she explained, Peebles Hospital will need to get accredited.

It is currently scheduled to have a formal survey done by the Norway-based international accredited registrar, DNV-GL, in January 2018, she said.

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