The Bahamas will soon be well-positioned to be a destination leader for medical tourism with the introduction of the international patient programme at The Bahamas Medical Centre, according to Doctors Hospital Health System and Centre President Barry Rassin.

The programme is among the features included in the newly opened Bahamas Medical Centre facilities on Blake Road.
The 35,000 square feet complex has operating rooms, private patient rooms, an athletic centre and swimming pool facilities.
Mr. Rassin said that medical tourism has taken off in parts of Central and South America and he sees great potential for the Bahamas in this new arena.
“We can’t compete on a price level with India, Thailand, Mexico and Costa Rica, however, we can be 25 per cent to 35 per cent less than the US average and as long as we can compete with the US, we have the ability of getting those patients who might have thought to go overseas because then you have built in there the cost of airfare, families staying in the hotels and those sort of things,” Mr. Rassin said.
The centre plans to go after the North American market initially, but Mr. Rassin said eventually he hopes to begin attracting patients from Europe and elsewhere.
“We have the great advantage of being English-speaking; we are also proximal to the United States – so there are a lot of direct flight from major US cities that bring people right here for us,” he said.
“We are The Bahamas as a destination which nobody else can brag – we are very special and we need to take advantage of that and we have the pricing in place so it puts us in a very special place and we need to take advantage of that. We are the only accredited hospital in the Caribbean and that gives us a great advantage to capitalise on our benefits.”
The centre was built at a cost of $1.2 million and it is expected to become fully operational in the coming weeks.