Health City expands into Camana Bay
(CNS): Health City Cayman Islands will be opening a satellite medical care centre in Camana Bay to provide outpatient services. Hoping to open the facility within eight weeks, the clinical director of the hospital in East End, Dr Binoy Chattuparambil said the hospital was committed to making access to its medical services more convenient for all residents and visitors.
“At Health City, we have always taken a patient-centered approach to providing the highest quality medical care. We want to ensure we are making specialized outpatient care and surgical follow-up care as accessible as possible for all patients needing our services,” he said.
The main hospital in East End, founded by Dr Devi Shetty, the world renowned Indian cardiologist, will remain fully functional as Health City’s flagship location. Surgical and major diagnostic services will continue to be provided there while outpatient and follow-up care will be offered at the new location.
“Patients have told us that with their busy work lives and schedules, it is not always convenient to come to the hospital in East End for consultations as they live and work on the other side of the island,” Dr Chattuparambil said. “So, we have listened and are coming closer to our valued patients.”
The new facility will not function as a general practice clinic, but offer outpatient consultations for a range of specialised medical services, including cardiology, neurology, orthopedics, medical oncology, gastroenterology, gynecology and urology, among others.
Chief Business Officer Shomari Scott said the expansion was to better serve the local community, as the majority of the population either live or work on the western side of Grand Cayman.
“When our islands reopen to medical tourists, the Camana Bay centre will provide a location closer to the ports of entry and to visitors who prefer to stay in the Seven Mile Beach area before and after their procedures,” he said. “We are working quickly as we hope to have the new office operational as soon as possible.”
The expansion also reflects the hospital’s continued success in Cayman after the facility began providing more care to local patients.
However, the hospital’s parent company, Narayana Health, reported a consolidated net loss of US$16.0 million in the second quarter of 2020, compared with net profit of over US$4 million in 2019. Earnings dropped by almost half 49.4% as the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown measures hit the operations at the company’s hospitals.
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Category: Health, Medical Health
See what happens when you stay out of the hospital???
“ However, the hospital’s parent company, Narayana Health, reported a consolidated net loss of US$16.0 million in the second quarter of 2020, compared with net profit of over US$4 million in 2019. Earnings dropped by almost half 49.4% as the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown measures hit the operations at the company’s hospitals.”
Eat healthy. Hospital is mainly a business. They make no money off of healthy people. Fact. Look at your commercials….pharmaceuticals and fast food.
JCI accreditation has NOTHING to do with the quality of the medical staff.
Neither does Cayman’s qualification system.
“The expansion also reflects the hospital’s continued success in Cayman after the facility began providing more care to local patients”. No! It reflects the hospital’s failure to attract medical tourism patients and its desire to slowly creep into primary care despite “promises” not to encroach on the work of local doctors, for which they received an obscene list of financial and other benefits from CIG.
There should be no sick people on this paradise island mid ocean. Theoretically the environment is inherently health conducive.
If only cancer, genetic & age related illnesses followed your logic.
We are regularly sprayed, along with the mosquitoes, with toxic chemicals.
We were subjected to toxic fumes from the dump fires.
Our oceans have dump run off & sewage in them.
Garbage can be seen gloating in the ocean, along dude the sargassum that lets off toxic gases when rotting on our shores.
Car pollution is incredibly high plus we still allow diesel vehicles to pump out dangerous exhaust fumes.
Paradise? Yes and no…..
The registration for Health City doctors was limited to their facility. Now Health City will keep opening satellite offices and thereby expand their foot print on Cayman. Not what the law was intended for.
So let’s have less healthcare workers and force people to travel further?
This will put a lot of Caymanians out of work
No. Let’s have the licensing rules & regulations be applied equitably to all.
The special dispensation they had was because they were only supposed to work at HC & only for 3 years before returning to India. Those rules were relaxed earlier this year – obviously govt knew about the CB plan. Beware though that the ability to sue them is very limited.
Less healthcare workers? What are you talking about? This comment is a non-sequitur. And, force people to travel? Really? It’s a 20-minute drive from GT to HCCI. The move to Camana Bay is simply a move by HCCI from tertiary to primary care, despite promises by HCCI and government to the contrary.
It was also intended that the Kimpton would provide jobs for Caymanians…that didn’t go too well either.
It should bring a tremendous difference to the Eastern Districts. But it takes so long by road. What happened to the East-West Arteriel road? Ironwood is never going to be built without a road that shortens the time spent driving on the road. Now that that tourism is off the table, this would be a good time to solve the problem of losing revenue.
a new troad might save 5 mins of travel time….and this is a game changer to you?
5 minutes? the number of people between Savannah and Bodden Town that pull out in front of like it’s a life or death situation, so I have to slam on my brakes, then drive at 25 miles an hour, holding up 20 cars for the next 10 miles I’m sure I could save more than 5 minutes
“Ironwood is never going to be built”. With or without the road. The road makes absolutely no difference to people who will fly hundreds of miles to (a) golf vacation, or (b) medical vacation.
This was supposed to be a facility for medical tourism! If they can’t keep to their business model then cancel all the special approvals/licenses/fees before allowing them to ‘compete’ in the local market.
Hello Cayman News Service,
Why was my letter not approved? Google NMS and fin out the truth.
You disappoint me, Healthy City needs very close scrutiny.
CNS: Strangely, I don’t work 24 hours per day. The comment was posted this morning.
I watched a documentary on Ajazeera TV and it concerned a Health providing group NMS owned by one Dr. B.R.Shetty. This group reported 2 Billion dollars losses, when in fact there were 6 Billion dollars of losses and apparently the Health City Cayman contributed 2 million dollars of their profit to this entity. Ernst & Young their auditors are now under investigation and NMS has been struck off the London Stock Market. I say there is smoke where there is fire, and the Cayman Government better keep a close look on this evolving situation. Remember BCCI?
CNS: The story is on the Al Jazeera website here. I haven’t had time to watch the video yet, but just to note that I couldn’t find any connection between Dr. B.R.Shetty and Dr Devi Shetty or between New Medical Centre Health (NMC) and Narayana Health.
The name Shetty in India is as generic and popular as Smith or Brown in the US and Ebanks or Bush in Cayman.
When doing research, it is always a good idea to pay attention to the details. Something as simple and basic is a name SMH.
Know what/who you’re researching…
Yeah, let’s complain about more world class medicine. We have such an excess don’t we.
You been paying too much attention to the HCCI hyperbolic advertising. World class physicians? By whose standards?
They are accredited internationally, HSA is not. HSA has a few departments accredited regionally. Big difference.
JCI accreditation has NOTHING to do with the quality of the medical staff.
Interesting… I wonder what’s to become of TrinCay or are they part of the puzzle? Rumored a few months ago to be under new management/ownership?
Hmm. Funny how all this happens. The story we were sold is that it would bring economic benefits to East End and would draw in medical tourists from the US into the economy.
Now the doctors don’t have to follow the same rules, the economic benefits are now going to Dart and Camana Bay, and these medical tourists never appeared (Covid or not).
Thank God. something on Cayman that works well and is better than anything or any other hospital here. Caymanians will now try to kill it and at the same time try to keep the Caymanian run hospitals from certain financial death.
Let me add that I have had experience with three Miami hospitals, Baptist, South Miami and Jackson and their service and care was most wanting. You were just a number and all they cared about was your insurance details and you were just a source of revenue for every department and Specialists. For all you gripers, until you are able to offer a world class specialist service in a cost effective manner, I say “put up or shut up”. Thank God for Health City.
I don’t think that is correct.
What part do you not think is correct?
That the doctors don’t have to follow the rules: See the Health Practice law which enables medical staff trained in India and other overseas countries to practice in Cayman; the Tax Concessions (Amendment) Law, which exempts companies from potential future taxes; and the Medical Negligence (Non-Economic Damages) (Amendment) Law, which caps pain and suffering damages awarded in medical malpractice cases to $500,000. Via https://www.caymancompass.com/2011/08/10/east-end-port-out-shetty-hospital-in/
That the medical tourism never appeared:
https://caymannewsservice.com/2020/05/health-city-switches-focus-to-local-care/
https://caymannewsservice.com/2017/02/doctor-queries-purpose-of-shetty-hospital/
Or that a selling point was economic benefits to East End? http://archive.caymannewsservice.com/2011/08/09/shetty-hospital-to-go-east-end/
Not even mentioning the 50 year duty waiver for the hospital: https://caymannewsservice.com/2016/02/duty-waiver-grants-ripe-for-corruption/
Or all the new Indian landlords that have bought up so many places to rent out.
Health City needs to stay in East End.
But it is.
Health City was supposed to be non-competative with local health service providers and focus just on the overseas health tourism market. (Which is why their medical staff were allowed to practice in Cayman with qualifications not normally accepted here, and why they were restricted to working just at Health City. Regardless of what you think of the quality of their medical degrees that was the rule.)
Part of their sweetheart deals were so they would Go East (initiative). Admittedly CIG did not live up to all of their commitments either.
Once Health City realised as everyone else had before them that their business plan was flawed (Americans were not going to flock to the Caribbean for heart surgery paid for by their US-based insurance companies) they started targetting ‘other markets’. Then they discovered what we all knew, Cayman is not part of the regional Caribbean Latin American market for almost anything, much less medical tourism, because of air travel links and operating costs. (Maybe we should be, but not the point.) Which has only left them one market to target: Cayman.
By trying to ‘go big fast’ and then force out smaller health care providers. (You don’t need a heart lab for an orthopaedic consult, and you don’t need an orthopaedic consultant for heart surgery, nor medical tourism. Yet you can get it all at Health City, now in Camana Bay.) So you have an entity developed under preferential conditions competing against pre-existing businesses who did not (do not) have those preferential advantages. It would be like if CIG gave Walmart a fee waiver to build a super-store in EE, as long as it only sold to tourists, then Foster’s discovered that Walmart was offering free delivery to homes in George Town and West Bay.
Unfair competition is unfair competition, regardless of how much some people (investors or customers) may benefit.
What’s important to me is that Health City is accredited by the JCI, just like hospitals in the first world. The Health Services hospital does not meet those standards although they are trying.
Are you sure the whole of HCCI is JCI accredited, or just certain departments?
Couldn’t agree more. Every other nationality working in the medical field here haS to meet certain criteria for licensing that was waived for the doctors at Health City. Then changes were pushed through earlier this year – allowing them to stay longer & not have to limit themselves to HC hospital. Look out local clinics.
Thanks Mac
I’ve been an inpatient at HCCI on two occasions over the past 3 years, also family members of mine. Past experiences were excellent all-round. My recent experience was less than excellent – good clinical care from the specialists but the nursing care seems to have become more “robotic”. I note a nursing staff who all seemed to be no older than 25. The “caring” aspect seemed remote and inexperience was noted.
I must say, in comparison, that I recently experienced excellent care at HSA GT Hospital.
Anyway, I’m grateful for HCCI and generally satisfied – I came out in better shape than I went in, so I’ll take that.
Congrats on the move to Camana Bay.
Not good. In fact, very disappointing to hear that. Less experienced staff paid less? May be this is the reason?
Health care in general is heading in the wrong direction. Physical examination by a doctor is a history, replaced by scans and tests and now telemedicine. And People are sicker than ever.
4.43pm You could not possibly be a civil servant, could you?.
I spent a whole morning at Health City because the people managing the scheduling could not be bothered to expedite. Half an hour waiting for xray (not in use, mind you) .. another half hour waiting for something else .. 45 min waiting for the doctor .. the famed approach to wasting less time seems to be sadly lacking.
My experience was the same. I’ve found excellent care there with the docs, but less than stellar with all the admin staff.
Two places to get a curry in Camana Bay?! Say it ain’t so.
I still really don’t understand how HC is allowed to operate in the local market when they do not have to comply with the same rules as other health professionals. Classic Cayman where there are different sets of rules depending on who you are.
be more specific, not everyone understands what you are talking about. What rules? There too many rules to know what you are talking about.
So what if one receives better treatment Health City than HSA or Doctors Hospital can ever hope to offer. Post-op infection rates are much higher at both HSA and Doctors Hospital to boot. The air is much cleaner at the HC facility, need I say more?
I wish HC every success and hope that HSA & DH hospitals will eventually emulate their exemplary service.
The hpc and the government allow them to operate in total disregard of the other Cayman medical offices .
It like the rules and regulations doesn’t apply to them .
Anon @3:01pm By far the best Helthcare service provider on the Island. Get off your your high horse and be grateful that we are blessed with such a institution on the Island; you may well need their services in the future.
This isn’t about high horse, it is about equal treatment.
It is about every other medical provider in Cayman having to be vetted by the Health Services Commission but not one medical professional at HC goes through the same process. Also, god forbid something really bad happens to you at HC, did you know you can’t sue them? They have a blanket indemnity from CIG. I am all for better healthcare but why can’t they be subject to the same rules?
Did you know that you really don’t know all that much? Could it be that all those rules have made the followers hospitals second rate at best? Did you know that Caymanian hospitals are one step away from Bankruptcy? Do you know why?
Yes, I do know why, Caymanians don’t pay their bills at the HSA. There is $60-70 Million in unpaid medical bills.
Educate yourself, read this:
https://www.imtj.com/blog/history-repeating-cayman-islands-health-project/
I am sure there is a lot about the modern world you do not understand. Being brought up in a culture that is rooted in the past will do that. Sounds like you need a one on one session with Jon Jon. He will set you straight.