It is my strong conviction that we need to promote Barbados as a Medical Centre. We need to attract local and foreign investors in this area. Medical Tourism can be BIG business for us.
Right now, we sell Holiday Tourism, which has been a mainstay for many years. However, our product is expensive compared to other places. Cuba will be opening its doors in the future, and their prices are much cheaper than ours. We also have Events-based Tourism, like Rallies, Gospelfest, Crop Over, Marathons, that occur once, or several times a year.
Our sugar production has declined every year. Good agricultural land is growing houses; and praedial larceny is a real headache for our farmers. Our agriculture, manufacturing and construction sectors are struggling. We have no other mineral resources (eg. Bauxite, gold) to sell, and we have a lot of people in a small island to feed. We need to create a resource for our nation that will be financially viable long term.
Medical Tourism is the answer. Sickness has NO season – it is a year round product. As you would have seen recently there was a benefit dance to raise funds for the Spice musician, Roger Foster, who has throat cancer. It is estimated that his treatment will cost between US $150,000. - $200,000. in Miami.
Why can’t we have that kind of spend happening here? Many wealthy North Americans would love to recuperate in a nice, warm climate with fresh ocean breezes.
I propose that you would give duty and vat free tax concessions for the importation of equipment over a certain value (eg. US $5,000. first cost) for entities, local or foreign, setting up medical or dental facilities in Barbados. I do not propose that every ball of cotton wool is tax free – but that the capital investment would be.
These tax free concessions on purchase of capital expenditure should include present medical and dental businesses locally, so they can upgrade their equipment and services, while keeping the prices more affordable to all Barbadians.
I would identify the areas of specialization we would want to see, eg. Cancer Centre, Heart and Neurosurgery, Eye Care, Plastic Surgery, Organ Transplants etc., and invite persons locally and internationally to consider Barbados for setting up their business.
In exchange for these concessions, I would hope to see a reduction in the fees for tests such as MRI’s, CT-scans etc. This is a WIN-WIN situation. The local population will get first-rate medical care at our doorstep, as well as our Caricom brethren, and at the same time, be a major revenue earner for Barbados.
We can increase our classes and enrollment at the Barbados Community College for nurses. Our young UWI doctors may get internships at these facilities.
There is also the possibility of the B.T.A. advertising a Directory of medical services for specialized, registered Doctors/Dentists. These ads can be placed in magazines on aircraft in the region.
Let us not forget, that our local Doctors may team up with local business people, if given the right incentives, and this industry may be a homegrown affair. You just have to create the right environment for this to flourish. Many people will spend on their health what they would not spend on their vacations. Over and above.
We cannot afford to miss this opportunity, and let some other Caribbean nation tap into this market before us.
Thanking you for your consideration in this area.
Yours sincerely,
Kim Smith
In medical tourism, citizens of highly developed nations bypass services offered in their own communities and travel to less developed areas of the world for medical care. Medical tourism is fundamentally different from the traditional model of international medical travel where patients generally journey from less developed nations to major medical centers in highly developed countries for medical treatment that is unavailable in their own communities. (Horowitz)
I think that this an interesting option for Barbados. Yes, there is room for more exploration. Yes, this has been doing well for Juliette Skinner and the infertility clinic. Yes, it will expand our tourism product. However, we need to consider some facts before we can consider grasping this opportunity with both hands.
- These Health Tourism areas need staff. We have a chronic problem in the Health Care in Barbados of chronic staff shortages, whether it be nurses, therapists and specialist doctors. We have issues of ‘brain drain’ to more developed countries in the quest for higher wages.
- In order to compete with the medical services of the developed world we need to be almost on par with the delivery of services that they offer at a fraction of their price. This will mean the necessary upgrade and purchase of technology and equipment in order to remain current as well as the trained personnel to operate and maintain the machinery.
- The aesthetics and the infrastructure will need to be altered so as to be appealing and make our Medical Tourism marketable.
Once these basics can be addressed a necessary foundation can be laid for a Medical Tourism product(s). I note with interest that our Caricom brother in the North, Jamaica is listed as one of the internationally preferred destinations for Medical Tourism. Perhaps we could enter into dialogue with them to help develop our product.
I cannot help but remark that an area I think will enhance any Medical Tourism is that of Rehabilitation. This is a Medical area where the focus is on the patients’ recovery and resumption of life whether it is post a surgical procedure or from a serious medical illness. It is during this period of convalescence that people are likely to shop, engage in fine dining and patronize tourist attractions along with their families. Surely the longer the tourists stay the more likely they are to spend money. So rather than having them just receive their acute medical/ surgical treatment and leave they should be encouraged to stay and recover in “Paradise”.
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