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Doctors Hospital Aims To Grow Medical Tourism Market

DOCTORS Hospital is aiming to grow and diversify its business mix into an ultimate 50/50 split between its current core and medical tourism, its president telling Tribune Business that moving into the latter area would enable it to “not worry about profitability” following a year when local patient activity dropped off by 25 per cent.

With the BISX-listed healthcare provider’s prostate cancer treatment program already in place as its first medical tourism initiative, Barry Rassin told this newspaper that Doctors Hospital hoped to establish a spinal surgery centre in Nassau within the next five to six months, followed by a centre for hips, knee and joint replacement – possibly as early as next year.

Describing medical tourism as a “strong part of our future”, Mr Rassin said Doctors Hospital would likely have to add “another 10-20 per cent” to its staffing levels – possibly as much as 50-100 jobs – once medical tourism took off and the hospital’s business from residents/tourists returned to pre-recession levels.

Explaining that Doctors Hospital was looking to attract 250 patients per year to the Bahamas through the spinal treatment and surgery centre, Mr Rassin said of the rationale behind the medical tourism move: “Increased revenue streams, pure and simple. The Bahamas is a very small population, and to provide service to a small population we can see it [the effects] now, especially with the recession.”

The Doctors Hospital president said the recession’s impact had been especially heavy on the business it generated from providing treatments to visiting stopover and cruise ship tourists.

While tourists normally accounted for 18 per cent of the hospital’s patient activity, Mr Rassin said this percentage had dropped to 11 per cent due to the recession and reduction in travel demand. “Half of our tourists we’re not getting, and that’s the biggest blow to the top and bottom line,” said Mr Rassin.”

Posted in Lifestyle

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