Narayana Health (NH) formerly Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospitals founded by Dr Devi Shetty with 23 hospitals across 14 cities in India, has now announced the launch of its tertiary care multi-specialty hospital ‘Health City Cayman Islands’ (HCCI) in Grand Cayman - the Caribbean region of North America.

The facility will be inaugurated by Premier of Cayman Islands Alden McLaughlin on February 25, 2014 in the presence of Dr Devi Shetty, chairman, Narayana Health, India and Dr Anthony R Tersigni, president and CEO, Ascension Health Alliance, USA.

The Indian healthcare major is  replicating its successful low-cost, high-quality healthcare model in America. It is for the first time that an Indian healthcare chain has set-up a hospital in the Western world. With healthcare costs spiraling out of control in US, Narayana Health’s model of ‘Health City’ will bring down the cost of healthcare making it accessible and affordable, stated Dr Shetty.

HCCI will provide tertiary level super-speciality healthcare services to people living in the Cayman Islands, the Caribbean region and the Americas. The project is an outcome of Narayana Health and Ascension Health Alliance which is one of the largest, private, non-profit healthcare networks in the US. It is a US$ 2-billion project to be built in phases over 15 years on a 200-acre site in the High Rock area of East End on Grand Cayman. The project includes a tertiary-care hospital, an educational facility, a biotech park and an assisted living community. The project will aim to house 2,000 beds post completion. An official ground-breaking ceremony was held on August 27, 2012 for this project. The first phase of the project costing $70-million was completed in 18 months.

As part of phase-I, the 104-bed tertiary-care hospital will provide medical services not widely available in the region such as open-heart/bypass surgery, angioplasty, heart-valve replacement, paediatrics and orthopaedics including joint replacements. Spread across 107,000 sq.ft, the hospital is built to the highest safety standards and meets the most extreme conditions in the Caribbean region, which has a population of approximately 40 million.

Commenting about this expansion, Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, vice chairman, MD & Group CEO, Narayana Health said the Cayman Islands have a safe and stable economy and is geographically positioned to serve the Caribbean and the Americas. Our tertiary care hospital will provide the much-needed healthcare solutions to the Island, as well as to the greater Caribbean region.

HCCI will employ around 140 personnel including physicians, registered nurses, paramedical professionals, support and administrative staff. The majority of the clinical staff is from NH, India with doctors trained and worked in the UK or US.