KINGSTON, Jamaica – Efforts are underway in several Caribbean countries to use medical tourism to diversify their tourism product and bring in much-needed foreign investment.
“The growth of this form of tourism would lead to the development of new resorts that are conducive to recuperation and rejuvenation, present new possibilities for the employment of highly skilled and specialized health professionals locally, and recapture those health professionals who have migrated,” the United Kingdom-based International Medical Travel Journal (IMTJ), a publishing firm, quoted Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett as saying.
“The move to position the island to benefit from the lucrative medical tourism market is part of a thrust to diversify our growing tourism sector, as well as boost visitor arrivals and earnings,” he added.
Bartlett said a task force has been established through Jamaica Trade and Invest to examine Jamaica’s potential as a medical tourism destination.
The task force, chaired by Jamaica’s tourism ministry, will also guide the development of an appropriate policy and regulatory framework.
The task force will see if Jamaica has a potential as a major medical tourism destination given its close proximity to the United States, which is a major source of travelers seeking outbound medical care, and which has a well-established air transportation network that is conducive to quick and easy travel, IMTJ said.
It said the Barbados Fertility Center is advertising “IVF holiday packages that bundle airfare and accommodation with airport and clinic transfers.” IVF costs are not included in the package prices.
IMTJ said Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo has secured a US$18 million line of credit from India to build a new specialist surgical hospital.
The new hospital will offer specialized procedures, such as organ transplants and cosmetic surgery to medical tourists. Construction will start this year and end in early 2014.
An unidentified Indian company will build the hospital, and Indian medical specialists will operate it, the IMTJ said. It said Umesh Rampersad of the Private Hospitals Association of Trinidad & Tobago (PHATT) is keen on developing the US medical tourism market.
But local hospitals only have 325 hospital beds available, IMTJ said.
It said private hospitals attract patients from neighboring Caribbean territories in the twin-island republic.
But to take it to the next level, IMTJ urged the Trinidad and Tobago Ministries of Health and Tourism to “develop a strategic marketing plan that would quantify and qualify the opportunity, as well as describe the best way forward.” IMTJ said St Kitts has started constructing an 18-bed surgical hospital, which will offer the latest CT, MRI and cardiac equipment.
It said the St. Kitts American University Hospital is a joint venture between the American Hospital Management Company (AHMC) and the Royal St. Kitts Beach Resort Limited (RSKBRL), and is to be opened in 2013.
“This new venture will attract patients seeking a quality medical tourism destination, such as St. Kitts, while also finding an effective way of increasing access to state of the art diagnostic equipment for the local population,” said St Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Dr Denzil L Douglas.
Randall D. Arlett of AHMC said the St Kitts American University Hospital is being developed as part of the overall continuing development of the Marriott St. Kitts Beach Resort complex.
“This project is the result of an in-depth study on medical tourism,” he said. (CMC)
