From International Medical Travel Journal IMTJ

Legally allowed to offer medical tourism, the Cayman government has no intention of going into the medical tourism business..

Although it has been granted the legal designation to participate in medical tourism, the government of the Cayman Islands has no intention of going into the medical tourism business.

The Health Services Authority has successfully applied to be registered as a medical tourism facility, but has no intention of competing with Health City Cayman Islands.

HAS sought the designation to avoid being restricted in treating any person who goes to the islands solely to seek medical services. In such a case, any facility providing those services requires a legal designation as a medical tourism facility.

A previous government gave Health City Cayman Islands sole rights for a decade on medical tourism, thus shutting out any private local healthcare hospitals or clinics seeking to compete with it. Health City Cayman Islands opened in 2014 with a partnership between Narayana Health of India, and St. Louis -based Ascension, but so far medical tourism numbers are in the low hundreds rather than the promised thousands.

The government has found a loophole in the deal allowing public hospitals to compete with HCCI. HCCI has been accused of taking local business from local private and public hospitals.

For more on this story go to: https://www.imtj.com/news/cayman-islands-government-will-not-compete/