Philipsburg:--- A group of American doctors located in Miami who are represented by Dr. Samuel Hess and the American Clinic are showing strong interest in building a "Care Center" on St. Maarten to provide much needed medical services to the island. SMN News has been reliably informed that the new center will cater to medical tourism and to those persons who can afford to pay for the services that will be provided by the foreign based hospital. "The idea is to cater to tourists coming from North America and persons who can afford to pay for their services locally."The source said the group already began talks with government, the St. Maarten Medical Center and several other groups about the new project. The group of doctors also approached the Wathey family for a parcel of land located next to Royal Palm to construct the Care Center. Sources say that Dr. Samuel Hess and the Wathey family will be sealing their business deal on Friday afternoon at the Tallulah Mango Restaurant.
SMN News learnt that while several other groups of people have shown interest in investing in medical tourism, this group seems to be much more serious. Their intention is to provide services to clients who are now being sent overseas at government's expense. "When the Care Center is built on St. Maarten, the St. Maarten Medical Center would no longer need to send patients to Venezuela, Colombia, Martinique and Aruba since most of the services will be provided locally at the Care Center." The new set of investors are also looking into doing plastic surgeries and other microscopic surgeries when the hospital is completed and functional. Several well known oncologists from the United States and Europe are also expected to work at the Care Center to treat cancer patients. The source said the SVB and BZV are showing strong interest in the new project since having another hospital that can provide more services will save government money.
While the Care Center will be built in another location, the group of investors is looking at working closely with the St. Maarten Medical Center as they intend to conduct their operations at the St. Maarten Medical Center while they will take their patients to their own location for recovery. "Having another medical institution will boost St. Maarten's economy and the island will have a number of other benefits said one of the persons negotiating with the group on behalf of government."