Private Cayman Clinic Still A Possibility?
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from April 1967.
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The clinic, called "Medical Associates," was founded in 1959 as a modest four-office building with hospital rooms and limited X-ray facilities. In eight years the clinic has expanded to 20 rooms accommodating 20 patients, including a three-bed ward, better X-ray facilities, a busy pharmacy and a rapidly growing laboratory. Some months ago this writer reported to Caymaniams that a group of interested parties had announced their hope to build a small clinic and hospital in Grand Cayman which would be patterned after the Medical Associates operation in Kingston.
Costs would be subsidized by local businessmen, and as in the case of Medical Associaties, by a group of medical specialists with impressive qualifications. With a follow-up story in mind and because of a minor ailment needing medical attention, I visited the Medical Associaties Hospital last week and learned first hand, what an up-to-date medical centre can mean to someone like me -- or you.
Introducing myself to the Administrator of the hospital, Dr. J.T. Burrowes who is well-known in the Cayman Islands as a medical practitioner, I was taken, after receiving my treatment, on a guided tour which left my mind whirling as my guide rattled off medical jargon and pointed out the countless instruments of examination and surgery which help to alleviate or to cure human suffering. Especially impressive in the tour was the new General Surgical wing, built last year at a cost of nearly £25,000. The most advanced equipment available is used throughout the hospital and there are plans to purchase the ultimate in hospital comfort-electrically controlled beds.
Television sets are standard equipment in all rooms, including the wardrocm. Certain Cayman businessmen have previously revealed to me that they had discussed with men in the medical profession the possibility of founding a similarly operated clinic and hospital in Grand Cayman. "It would be most desirable for Caymanians," one of these men confided, "Because we could operate and expand as the need arose, without stringent restrictions. "Additionally," he said, "It would be easier to accommodate (approved) visiting doctors or specialists in the proposed private clinic than in our existing Government Hospital," It was also pointed out that such a medical centre would attract a greater number of qualified doctors to the Cayman Islands as well as alleviate the need for people to travel to Kingston or Miami for specialized medical treatment not presently available in Grand Cayman. Kingston's Medical Associates operation housed a group of highly qualified specialists, independent financially but ininterdependent professionally.
Although the centre was organized as a private enterprise, it has since been converted into a limited liability company with the doctors on the staff buying shares in increasing amounts and, it was noted, with the general public taking over a large percentage of the stock. Medical Associates hopes eventually to build a 50-bed hospital with high-standard nursing and professional care, utilizing the ultimate in medical equipment. Available at the clinic now are specialists in such fields as Neuro-Psychiatry-Orthopaedics, Plastic and Hand Surgery, Radiology, Respiratory Diseases, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Internal Medicine and of course, General Practice. "What would be necessary to build such an advanced medical clinic and hospital in Grand Cayman?" was the first question that I asked of the hospital staffers after my tour. "The support of Cayman serviceclubs, Cayman businessmen and of financially secure Cayman citizens interested in not only their own welfare but in the medical health of all Caymanians,” was the answer.
