Premier Julianna O’Connor-Connolly announced at the Chamber of Commerce’s election debate at the Aston Rutty Centre on Cayman Brac on April 12^th that she had had the opportunity to meet with Dr Devi Shetty and his team and they are interested in establishing a medical school on the island.

She said the plans were at an advanced stage and she would diligently work towards following up such “a wonderful venture”.

“Should the memorandum of understanding go through with the government, he [Shetty] could confirm that 200 medical students will come to Cayman Brac, which will feed into the hospital he (Dr Shetty) is building in East End,” Ms O’Connor-Connolly stated.

Dr Shetty is already involved in a major project on Grand Cayman – the construction of a 2,000-bed hospital in East End. The construction for Phase One of Health City Cayman Islands as the project is called has commenced construction and is on schedule with first patients expected to check in to the 140-bed hospital in early 2014.

The US$2 billion project will be built in phases over 15 years and will eventually include 2,000 beds. The multi-specialty Center of Excellence will provide services not widely available in the region such as open-heart and bypass surgery, angioplasty, heart-valve replacement, cancer treatment, and organ transplants.