Top medical brand sought over health tourism goal

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

The Ministry of Tourism will "advance as rapidly as we can in the New Year" the positioning of the Bahamas as a premier health/medical tourism destination, and seek to attract top healthcare brand names such as the Cleveland and Mayo clinics to these shores.

Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, minister of tourism and aviation, told Tribune Business that his ministry was aggressively targeting health tourism as a potential growth market for the Bahamas, working closely with the Bahamas Medical Association (BMA) and other industry professionals to develop a potential multi-million dollar revenue stream for this nation.

"We are moving forward on that in a number of areas," the minister said of medical tourism, telling Tribune Business before the Christmas holidays: "We are advancing that as rapidly as we can in the New Year."

Vernice Walkine, the Ministry of Tourism's director-general, speaking on the minister's behalf to the recent World Medical Tourism Congress in Los Angeles, said: "We propose to negotiate to bring established, world-class healthcare brands like the Cleveland or Mayo Clinic to our shores.

"Our desire is to partner with a premier medical provider that would be compatible with our Bahamian destination brand, and also with our Ministry of Health's standards for providing recognised, reputable and proven procedures in treatment."

Tribune Business was told that the Mayo and Cleveland Clinics were among those being targeted by the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) for its proposed $100 million hospital for Freeport, a project being targeted by GBPA/Port Group Ltd chairman Hannes Babak. The GBPA has enlisted consultants to develop framework proposals for how medical tourism could work in Freeport, in a bid to piggyback off the existing presence of Ross University's medical school.

While Ms Walkine made no mention of whether the Ministry of Tourism would link-up with the GBPA's efforts in this area, she pledged that the Bahamas would "create a leading medical tourism industry that offers the very best health benefits" and top-quality medical care.

The Ministry of Tourism was also seeking to develop an investment incentives policy for the healthcare industry, which would be similar to the regime presently enjoyed by the hotel industry.

'This will ensure the ability of such facilities to acquire and retain the most modern equipment and technology," Ms Walkine said. "The procedures and services of such facilities qualifying for incentives must be approved in a minimum number of established jurisdictions, such as the United States, Canada, Europe."

The director-general said the Bahamas had already enjoyed some medial tourism success despite the absence of a policy framework, pointing to the availability of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) prostate cancer treatment.

"Already actively available in Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, India and the Dominican Republic, it became available in the Bahamas in 2008," Ms Walkine said. "An average of 15 patients per month travel to the Bahamas for treatment, staying for five days, and bringing along family members due to the convenience and affordability.

"This may be a relatively small example, but a potentially potent one, poised for exponential growth."

Doctors Hospital was also set to be accredited by Joint Commission International (JCI), "establishing it as a facility with exceptionally high standards, and as part of a high-quality network offering highly-skilled doctors, state-of-the-art equipment and innovative treatment".

The statistics quoted by Ms Walkine hinted at the potential market available to the Bahamas. In 2007, some 750,000 Americans travelled abroad for overseas medical services, spending $2.1 billion. By 2010, the director-general added, the former number was expected to swell to six million. And the Bahamas, due to its proximity to the US, one:one peg with the US dollar and common language, together with economic and political stability/continuity, was well-positioned, she said, to reap the rewards.