PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister Lee arrived yesterday on the inaugural charter flight from Health City Cayman Islands to a spectacular welcome home from Prime Minister William Marlin, Minister Gibson, and Winair. “It was a good to see, firsthand, the impressive facilities and quality of care that our patients will experience while at Health City. This has been a process that started before my term. The process began with a visit to the Health City facilities from the Inspectorate from Sint Maarten, Dr. Best. The inspector visited the facilities to ensure that it met the required standards for our patients,” said Minister Lee. Health City meets high international standards as a Joint Commission International (JCI) Accredited hospital.
Health City has done an exceptional job of building the relationship with Sint Maarten and its specialists over the years. An intangible and important accomplishment as many of the opportunities to improve patient care and the financial impact of our medical referrals hinges upon how well managed the relationship is before and after the patient is sent for their medical procedure.
Access to these facilities, in terms how to get our patients there, was the bottleneck that prevented us from utilizing Health City’s services in the past. Issues such as overnight flights and visa requirements for flights that go via the USA. It is a long flight for the SAAB34 and the necessary precautions such as a refueling stop in Jamaica are in place to ensure safety for the passengers.
Minister Lee reiterated that this is SZV’s decision to send patients to Health City in Cayman and that he is not involved in regards to where patients are going or not. Relationships with other countries continues. The addition of Health City allows SZV to tap into their resources to take care of the backlog of approximately one hundred patients that have been waiting for service. It also provides an opportunity to assess whether this is a long-term relationship that can be built upon.
Comments regarding the costs involved as Cayman Islands is an expensive destination. Minister Lee stated this was a good reason to go. Cayman Islands do not have any wage taxes and they fund their tax structures through import duties. This means that no taxes are deducted from the people’s salaries and the products that they purchase are more expensive because they are heavily taxed. This translates to a higher cost of living. However, SZV has created an all-inclusive package by purchasing the flight with a locked-in airfare price. Health City also has onsite accommodations, which means that the cost for hotel rooms and meals are also bundled in the package. They have also negotiated a fixed bulk price per medical service. So, although Cayman Islands has a high cost of living, from a medical perspective we have been able to secure very attractive fixed pricing that is competitive with other destinations.
The return flight to Cayman Islands was leaving as Minister Lee addressed the press. Miss Parveen Boertje, Chief Consumer officer, Miss Carty, Referral officer at SZV, accompanied the patients and companions were on that return flight to experience it for themselves and ensure that our patients
