By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Doctors Hospital Health Systems is targeting the international market as the natural “go to” sector, as it bids to counter the $30-$40 million spent annually by Bahamians on medical services abroad.

Barry Rassin, president of BISX-listed healthcare provider, said the domestic health services market was becoming saturated, making it difficult to maintain the necessary volume of business.      

As a result, Doctors Hospital’s international patient programme was designed to be a ‘holistic’ offering for patients, inclusive of an enticing price package.

Mr Rassin said it was estimated that between $30-$40 million a year was spent outside the country on medical services by Bahamians and residents.

“What we are after is specifically for people in North America, Canada and the Caribbean to want to come to Nassau to be treated for whatever their issues are at Doctors Hospital or the Bahamas Medical Centre,” Mr Rassin toldTribune Business.

“Medical tourism is a big boost to an economy. There are  a lot of benefits as to what’s going to happen to our economy when we do this. Medical tourism is driven by quality and by price. If you can’t prove that you are going good quality, you won’t get the business.” 

 Mr Rassin said that while international patients accounted for 16 per cent of Doctors’ business, its goal was to push that number to 50 per cent. 

“We believe that there is a market out there that we can drive to our business. While Bahamians are going away for healthcare, there are going to be a lot of people who want to come here to get what we offer that they can’t get back home,” said Mr Rassin.

“The fact that we are so close to the US is going to be a big benefit to us. We are the only joint commissioned and international accredited hospital in the Caribbean. That puts us in a different place than any other hospital in the Caribbean. A lot of people can talk about getting medical tourism, but if you can’t prove that your are up to those standards you can’t get the business.”

Commenting on Doctors Hospital’s’ international patient programme offering, Mr Rassin said: “The patient experience is going to be unique. It is going to start from first contact to final contact. We want to make it as simple and easy as we possibly can. We want to develop the trust of the patient.

“It’s really a holistic package of taking care of everything for the family to ensure that we have blown away their expectations. When you arrive in the country we are going to be there to meet you. We are going to make sure your hotel is doing what they should. We have already talked to hotels about changing menus, making sure certain patients get the right foods and making doors bigger for handicapped persons to have better access. There are a lot of good reasons why patients will say that they want to go to Doctor’s Hospital.” 

Mr Rassin said an enticing price package was a key component of the offering. “It’s important that we have one price, one number. We are trying to make this as simple as we can. Basically, a patient will end up with one price for their procedure,  so if you are coming for, say a dental implant and that costs $10,000, that that will include the hospital, the surgeon the anesthesia, the supplies etc; so one number covers all the aspects of the procedure.”