Jamaica set to lead Caribbean in health tourism – Bartlett
Published:Monday | February 24, 2025 | 12:06 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett is expressing confidence that, with the newly opened catheterisation laboratory for heart-related medical procedures at the Hospiten health facility, St James has now broadened its capacity to meet the needs of visitors to the island.
In July last year, the United States issued a travel advisory urging its citizens to be wary of travelling to Jamaica as the health care available on the island is not comparable to the standard available in the US.
However, in addressing Friday’s official ceremony for the catheterisation laboratory at Hospiten, Bartlett said Montego Bay, the nation’s tourism capital, is set to become the Caribbean’s primary site for international medical tourism.
“The possibilities for health tourism loom now, and not just because of this particular laboratory that is being opened today and the capacity that it provides for cardiovascular responses, but what this does is to add value to what is now happening through the government of Jamaica, in creating perhaps the most-sophisticated and expansive health campus in the Caribbean, right here in Montego Bay,” said Bartlett.
“When the Cornwall Regional Hospital [located in Montego Bay] is finished with its restoration work, and when the Western Children and Adolescent Hospital here is finished, that will be the largest single health campus anywhere in the Caribbean,” said Bartlett. “That positions Jamaica, and Montego Bay, as an important centre for medical tourism. We are building what I call a tourism innovation town, where tourism will feed into the community and the community feeds back into tourism, and health is vital in all this.”
Hospiten’s new catheterisation laboratory, or cath lab for short, is the first of its kind in western Jamaica and was developed at a cost of US$900,000 (J$142 million). It follows the opening of Jamaica’s first cath lab at The University Hospital of the West Indies on May 30, 2019.
Bartlett noted that, with several upcoming developments to take place in sections of the neighbouring Rose Hall community, including planned construction of rooms at several hotels in the area, there will be an increase in potential clients for Hospiten to provide with medical care.
The upcoming developments include 10,000 hotel rooms that are slated for completion over the next five years, as well as the construction of 1,200 houses for tourism workers, which will take place shortly.
“You will have not just a capacity in terms of what tourism brings with 10,000 rooms, but now over 30,000 people will be part of the demand for your services. What we are saying is that this is the new Montego Bay, and this is the new demand for health care that will be there,” Bartlett told the Hospiten representatives.
In May 2024, Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton challenged Jamaica’s private sector to participate in developing the country as a potential hub for health tourism, which involves travel that focuses on medical treatments and the use of healthcare services.
At that time, Tufton noted that such a thrust could help to alleviate issues such as the United States’ Level Three travel advisory which was issued in January 2024, in relation to Jamaica’s crime and medical service issues.