Over the last few weeks we have had major news come out about some of the serious moves Jamaican medical doctors are making to impact healthcare services in Jamaica, tap into medical tourism and marry business and healthcare.
This is a testament to the fact that healthcare is a booming, lucrative and expansive sector and should inspire many healthcare workers to dream big, look at their talents and use medicine as a platform to achieve big goals.
Here are the updates!
Dr. Alfred Dawes is a very well known surgeon in Jamaica and specialises in bariatric surgery. He has a private practice called Windsor Wellness Centre, was the senior medical officer of Savanna-La-Mar, and now recently announced that he along with his partners will be opening a private hospital in Portmore hopefully by October this year. This hospital aims to bring world class services to Portmore and by extension Jamaica, including several specialists to offer their services there. He promises affordable care to further serve the population and talks about the push towards medical tourism so that Jamaica can follow in the footsteps of several of our neighbours to offer high quality medical services to travellers.
Dr. Ché Bowen CEO OF MDLink, a telemedicine service provider that became increasingly popular during the covid pandemic, has acquired Fleet Diagnostics Limited in an effort to expand the services being offered by the company. I think we can easily see that the aim of MDLink is to build out an ecosystem and make medicine more accessible through telemedicine, drive through covid testing and other services. It’s interested to think about what is in the pipeline and how Dr. Bowen will continue grow MDLink with the use of technology, increased accessibility and convenience.
Dr. David Walcott is the founder and managing partner of Novamed. Novamed is a healthcare investment and consulting firm designed to connect world-class healthcare resources. He and his partners recently announced the planned acquisition of Knutsford Court Hotel and are a part of a consortium planning to acquire Medical Associates. Now, for many of us it’s crazy to wrap our heads around a medical doctor buying a hotel but also- why is a doctor buying a hotel?? Check out TVJ Business Day where he talks briefly about his plans. Dr. Walcott openly talks about expansion within and outside of medicine with the core mission being to make healthcare better, more affordable and more accessible in emerging markets through collaboration, creative problem-solving and, of course, capital.
These are just some of the things happening in the space, I’m bullish on the healthcare sector of Jamaica not just in medical tourism, bringing business to Jamaica, providing affordable, accessible and quality care but also alternative career and employment opportunities for Jamaican healthcare workers. The next thing I’ve very eager to see with all this private investment is public and private partnership as a further way to benefit the people of Jamaica!
As healthcare workers, we obtain valuable skills through medicine and exist at an interesting intersection… healthcare affects almost- if not every sector which means… healthcare workers- DREAM BIG!
Samantha C. Johnson
If there is anything else happening in the space please feel free to send me a DM, and email at samantha@thelaymansdr.com or put a comment below!
