By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

Doctors Hospital opened the doors of its Paradise Island Medical Centre (PIMC) yesterday, providing services to residents, employees and visitors.

Dennis Deveaux, the BISX-listed healthcare provider’s chief financial officer, told reporters the facility could see 20 to 30 patients daily taking advantage of a wide range of services including urgent care, x-ray and ultrasound imaging, as well as prescription filling and laboratory work.

“The driving force behind the opening of the PIMC really starts with the vision of our president and CEO, and that translates into Doctors Hospital’s, commitment to provide high quality but affordable care to communities within The Bahamas. We need to be in the communities where people live and serve those communities,” said Mr Deveaux.

“Traditionally, a clinic like this would see anywhere from 20 to 30 patients per day, and that count could range services, you know, people coming in with an urgent medical need that requires the immediate intervention of a doctor. We really are intending that this is a full-service medical centre, urgent care, the annual physical, the imaging sub studies if you need those, prescriptions and laboratory services.”

While declining to say how much was allocated for the facility, Mr Deveaux said he prefers patients to consider the health centre in terms of “access and affordability”.

Acknowledging many patients have apprehensions due to the cost of hospital services, he maintained that all of Doctor’s Hospital’s clinics provide affordable services for its outpatient services.

“It’s not a question of the amount of money that has been spent. And clearly, working with our board of directors, we try to make good business decisions that would cause our shareholders to see increased value. But really in the space of finances, we want folks to really think about the issue of access and affordability,” said Mr Deveaux.

“Traditionally, folks know that hospital based care is expensive, and they carry that feeling or perception into now what we call the outpatient space, or the clinic space, and we really want folks to be disabused at that notion that Paradise Island Medical Centre, all of our clinics really around the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, whether it’s Exuma, whether it’s the two clinics that we have in Grand Bahama all of the clinics around New Providence that you can walk in and they’re accessible and certainly affordable.”

Mr Deveaux said their Loyalty Advantage Membership Programme (LAMP) designed to provide healthcare solutions for both uninsured and underinsured Bahamians, as well as businesses in the region has attracted almost 10,000 users.

“LAMP has been amazing and we look forward to the future of LAMP, where we start to take on additional risk, and that at some point LAMP really is a more comprehensive way for Bahamians to pay for health care,” said Mr Deveaux.

“But LAMP is amazing, we now have a membership approaching 10,000 people that are using a subscription-based programme to pay for their health care services. That means when you show up, you don’t have a very large bill, and that’s how we just put a real dent into this issue of access and affordability for Bahamians.”