Officials from the government and the Health Services Authority met at the Ritz Carlton Hotel for the pre-launching of the National Healthcare Conference 20/20.

The official launching of this year’s conference will also be held at the Ritz Carlton and will run from the 17-19 November 2011.

The Conference will be free to the general public and is expected to provide interesting and educational debates and discussions.

The theme of the 2011 conference is Healthcare Economics: The search for quality and affordability.

The Minister for Health, Environment, Youth, Sports, and Culture, the Honourable Mark Scotland, in his opening of the pre-launching, explained that “the search for affordable healthcare for the Cayman Islands is not an easy one and it is one which even larger jurisdictions have failed to achieve.”

In his address to the attendees, the minister said, “To some, this might seem like an overly ambitious and frankly impossible task but most revolutionary ideas do.”

Then Mr. Scotland also asserted that it is crucial for the pursuit of quality and affordable healthcare to be a passion shared by all the relevant authorities and stakeholders in the healthcare industry.

“Both public and private hospitals, doctors, health insurers, employees and individuals need to come together to address this most fundamental issue of how to provide affordable quality healthcare to every person in the Cayman Islands. To date, no country has been able to do that.”

Other ministry officials and healthcare professionals were on hand to expand on the premise of this
year’s theme.

Speakers included Dr. Sydney Ebanks, President of the Cayman Islands Dental Society, Mrs. Andria Dilbert, Director of Corporate Services, Cayman Islands Health Service, Mrs. Jennifer Ahearn, Permanent Secretary and Chief Officer in the Ministry of Health, Mr. Wil Pineau, Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Steve Tomlinson, owner and founder of the Chrissie Tomlinson Hospital.

Mrs. Lynne Byles, Managing Director of Tower marketing, one of the major sponsors of Healthcare 20/20, expressed delight at the company’s association with the event and revealed her support for the event’s major objectives.

Other major sponsors include CMN Inc., Cerner, LIME, MPS, Baptist Health International, ASUIA, CBCA, Miami Children’s Hospital, IMO, Cayman Airways, CINICO and Maples.

This year’s 20/20 Healthcare Conference will be the second of its kind and will be free to the public.