BAHAMAS, BERMUDA - Can the Bahamas and Bermuda attract medical tourists?

The organization running hospitals in the Bahamas sees great potential in medical tourism, but the money for expanding a local hospital is coming from overseas bank loans, and is based on hopes of attracting large numbers of American medical tourists.

With the first phase of the Princess Margaret Hospital extension underway, Herbert Brown of the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) plans to aggressively pursue medical tourism, "I have no doubt medical tourism will play a key role in the economic expansion of this country. We need to think of ways of attracting investment and expanding the economy. The Bahamas have some of the finest doctors, nurses and administrators in this part of the world. We have the skills. It is more the facilities, so with the upgrade we are beginning to say to the world - we are ready for medical tourism.”

The $75 million construction of the critical care block, will bolster’s PMH’s efficiency, capacity and technology. The expansion is needed, as at present it is regular for patients to lie on trolleys because there are not enough beds. In a four-phase plan, the PHA intends to add some high quality individual rooms, separated from the standard hospital rooms to specifically cater to foreigners seeking long-term treatment in a comfortable facility. It is also likely, that it will add accommodation for family and friends.

The PHA, or more specifically Herbert Brown, argues that having planned procedures done in The Bahamas could be a viable and attractive option to Americans, and perhaps other markets such as Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean and beyond.

The four-phase expansion and construction of PMH could eventually create a steady source of revenue for the country. But there are concerns as to where this investment money is coming from, and whether enough medical travellers would come to make the investment offer real returns. Currently, the Bahamas is a depressed economy. When local papers asked where the money is coming from, Brown gave replied, “Financial institutions have confidence in The Bahamas to pay the bills and I have confidence in the government to see this through.”

For the first phase, the Royal Bank of Canada has extended a $55 million loan. To make the investment work, even the PMH admits that the Bahamas must invest considerably in training and development of medical and service staff.

The Cayman Islands and Bermuda are potential local competitors also relying almost exclusively on a hoped for American market. While all three could be a potential destination for Americans to receive the care they need, many other countries in Central and Southern America already offer an existing product from a much lower treatment and staff cost base than these three.

It is unlikely Bermuda or the others two will be able to compete as travel costs (including hotel stay and flight) alone could exceed the total costs in a low cost jurisdiction. According to a recent World Health Organisation report, 71 % of hospital costs are for labour, and this might be difficult for these three to overcome. All three also have very small populations that limit the number of procedures that can be economically performed on the islands and it would be difficult to increase volume of procedures or medical tourists significantly without bringing in medical staff from overseas. The problem is that the numbers required to make any investment pay off, would mean that as a proportion of the tourism industry or total economy, medical tourism would have to be so huge as to make the whole local economy dangerously reliant on it and at risk from boom and bust cycles.

In Bermuda and The Bahamas, the enthusiasm for medical tourism is led by a handful of individuals based on optimistic figures on the future numbers of American medical tourists. Local doubters see two key risks; the first is that the promised number may not happen. The second is that even if it does, whether these islands can get their cost base low enough to attract business in the face of stiff competition from a score or more of other local countries. Some locals see the prospect of using borrowed money for medical tourism as a worse gamble for the investment of capital or time than alternate product offerings such as casinos, short-term retreat packages, and even retirement homes.

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