The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Doctors Hospital’s Bahamas Medical Centre is about a week away from full operations, the BISX-listed company’s president yesterday telling Tribune Business $1.5 million had been pumped into the Blake Road facility that is expected to be a “key player” in its international patient business.

Speaking with Tribune Business from the facility yesterday, Barry Rassin said: “We’re kind of on a one-shift basis right now until I can get everything in place. Hopefully within another week we’ll be open fully, so we’re about a week away.

“Right now the staff is in place and we’re just kind of working on the best processes, making sure they are in place so that we know exactly what to do and how to do it, so that we are efficient as we open.

“Ninety-nine per cent of the equipment and furniture is here. Everything we’re doing out here is digital. It’s hooked up to our main computers downtown, so making those work properly and correctly is what we are working on right now.

“We’re digital at Doctor’s, so we would connect this hospital to Doctor’s Hospital digitally as well. For instance, we don’t have to develop x-rays out here; the radiologist downtown reads the x-rays. I want to make sure you can get it within seconds of the time we take it,” said Mr Rassin.

With some 16 per cent of Doctors Hospital’s business coming from non-Bahamians, the BISX-listed health care provider is attempting to make serious inroads into that market and increase its proportion of foreign patients to 50 per cent.

Doctor’s Hospital closed the then-Western Medical Plaza almost nine years ago due to a downturn in the economy. Re-opening under a new name, the full service hospital will provide an emergency care unit to service the expanded population that now lives and works in western New Providence, as well as provide elective ambulatory surgery services for international patients seeking treatment in the Bahamas.

  “We’re working on the international market, and once I have the opening date then we’re going to launch the new website into the international market,” Mr Rassin said.

“We’re anticipating being busy by January/February. There’s a big conference in Fort Lauderdale at the end of October where we would be able to touch base with all the people who are coordinating  international patient flow, so that will be a big opportunity for us to get our message out there to make sure people know we are here.”

He added: “I believe we will have a significant piece of the pie for this end of the island. We will provide all the services persons at this end of the island could require, and we have the ambulance stationed out here so we could take them to Doctor’s Hospital if necessary.

“Certainly, for emergency services and urgent care services, I would think this would be the place to stop. This is a key part of our international patient programme, and will be what we are marketing internationally.

“The international patient department is located out here, close to the airport so that we are able to transport our patients back and forth. This is a key player in the international business that we are going for.”

Mr Rassin pegged the total additional investment to re-open the Blake Road facility at $1.5 million.

“The total additional investment is about $1.5 million. That’s on top of everything.

“We already owned the building, so that’s not counting the original investment in the building and property. What we would have spent in addition to bring in the new equipment is about $1.5 million,” said Mr Rassin.