Oasis Land Development are invited on a private tour of the Dr. Shetty Hospital Grand Cayman.
Since the announcement of the Dr. Shetty Hospital development in the Cayman Islands, Oasis Land Development have actively followed the news & media on the progress of the development, we have written a number of articles about the progress, regularly keeping our purchasers up-to-date with the schedule of the build. We have visited the outskirts of the development on many occasions taking pictures and we even whisked several purchasers in a helicopter in order to take pictures and videos of the development from a bird’s eye view. There are a number of large-scale developments currently underway or in the pipeline in the Cayman Islands, however the Dr. Shetty hospital is the biggest by far, and is set to change the Country. In Oasis’ opinion this development is will be significant driver for property sales and the rental market in the UK.
When visiting the hospital, due to security reasons people are not allowed to enter passed the cordoned off fences which surround the perimeter of the development, so when Oasis were invited to take a private tour of the hospital both inside & outside we were thrilled.
Oasis knew the development was being built to the top standards, as this isn’t Dr. Shetty’s first hospital development. Dr. Shetty has managed to leverage economies of scale to provide affordable healthcare. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, third highest civilian award in India for his contribution to the field of affordable healthcare.
Not only affordable but the highest quality, with state-of-the-art equipment used only by several countries in the world.
The Grand Cayman hospital will provide care to private patients and referred patients, no emergencies or trauma patients, they will still be accommodated by the current Grand Cayman hospital. The hospital is set to be the first ever paperless hospital, and will not only have a 2,000 bed hospital but will also have a hotel, a medical university, campus, shops, residential units, workers units and many more facilities, it is set to be a “Health City”.
On arrival at the hospital we met with project Manager Ryan Smith, who has project managed a number of hospitals in the USA and was incredibly knowledgably about the development. We are asked to wear our hard hats and visitor vests, as the hospital is still heavily under construction. From the outside you can see the formation of the first phase of the development, which is the heart of the hospital, the first phase will hold 150 hospital beds, and is set to open its doors in February 2014, you can see from the pictures the latest progress.

We entered the building via the side door which is where the doctors offices are located, the hospital is nice and bright with windows in every office, currently the hospital is just a shell. Mr. Smith informed us that there will be around 15 doctors, which will serve the hospital, for a 2,000 bed hospital we asked would this not be a issue further down the line. Mr. Smith advised the doctors who will serve the hospital are among the best in the world and have carried out large numbers of surgeries, he advised that the surgeons/doctors can preform up to 10 operations a day, whereas American doctors in most cases might preform 10 over several months or years, this is one of the reasons why affordable prices can be achieved at the new Cayman hospital.
The kitchen, which will cater the hospital, was larger than normal, the kitchen will be required to provide a large variety of different culinary requirements, the hospital will attract people from all over the world and Dr. Shetty believes that advice for a good heart is based on several reasons and one is good food. The Hospital will provide Dr. Shetty’s five rules of thumb for heart health-diet, less carbohydrate, more protein, less oil, regular exercise, quit smoking, control weight, control blood pressure and sugar. Therefore the kitchen is larger to provide such important factors to different and to different Nationalities, the kitchen will also be required to provide a continuation of quality culinary experience to patients who are recovering in the hotel.
The main entrance of the hotel was smaller than any hospital with just enough room for about 15 chairs, a main desks and a few shops, such as a pharmacy and a gift shop. Mr. Smith advised that the hospital will only accommodate referred patients so there is no need for a large waiting area as everyone’s procedures will be pre-booked.
One of the most impressive aspects of the hospital was the operating theatres. All operating theatres firstly have a window, Dr. Shetty believes in natural light, as the surgeons do many more surgeries so they like natural light. Another feature which can not be found in any hospital in the Caribbean and only several hospitals in the world, is the operating rooms iMRI scanners.
The operation rooms will each have a MRI scanner called an “iMRI” which are designed specially so that they can be used within an operating room, the rooms in-turn are specially made to accommodate iMRI scaners. The iMRI scanner can be used during surgery and the results will be shown in real time via the widescreen TVs that will be at the end of the operating table. The advantages of such technology are incredible as surgeons can now get immediate updates in real time. The scanners are not used in every operation and they give surgeons the opportunity to achieve the goal that they set out at the beginning of the surgery. Published studies show use of iMRI increases physicians’ ability to towards an improved rate of procedural success.
Another feature, which is provided to the operating rooms, is a pneumatic tube for blood samples. As the hospital will have its own laboratory located within the main building there has been a tube installed right outside the doors of the operating theatres which will allow blood samples to be tested during surgery and results sent back within minutes. There is also a CAT scan and radiology unit and laboratory situated within within the hospital.
Located close to the operating rooms are the administration rooms which considerably small compared to most, Mr. Smith advised that the rooms are able to be so small for a number of reasons, firstly the hospital is set to be a paperless hospital with everything done on tablets and computers. And as the hospital will only treat referred patients and wont require the need to deal with insurance companies and other major hospital administration work, this cuts the administration requirements and again the additional costs which are added onto procedure costs.
The intensive care unit is set out different to standard intensive care units, with a window for every unit and an open bay plan rather than individual rooms for ICU patients. Although there are a number of rooms for isolation and better care cases, most ICU patients will be in the open ward. Open Bay set up’s are proven to have lower infection rates than single rooms. Plus there will be three nurses stations who will all have direct access view to all those patients, so you can lower your staff and have a better range of being able to monitor patients in an open bay ward rather than in individual rooms.
The private rooms are large, modern rooms which currently only had a bathroom and a wardrobe as the rooms are still under construction, the rooms where bright and welcoming and big enough for your friends and family to visit.
There was a large cleaning room, and general hospital facilities through out the building.
The hospital was equipped with a large oxygen room, the oxygen room was big enough to cater for the Dr. Shetty hospital and the current Cayman Islands hospital if required, generating 5 times more oxygen that it requires. Using state-of-the-art technology which is remotely monitored via the supplier in the USA, the oxygen room has the capability to provide oxygen canisters to all of the Cayman Islands should the existing facilities fail in the event of a hurricane. The oxygen wasn’t the only facility the new hospital would be able to support the islands with; there were a number of facilities which could be used to support the Cayman Islands if required.
The hospital has been designed and built completely self-sufficient and would require no back-up from any other source, the hospital has huge generators, with a back up generator, and a back-up, back-up generator. It has its own sewage system which means it doesn’t have to be reliant on any other means of sewage and is totally self-serving.
The hospital is energy conscious and will eventually have its own solar park which will supply energy to the whole of the development, they are also looking into other means of generating energy using the sea water which is still under development by Nasa.
Mr. Smith continued to show Oasis where the other phases will take place, he showed us the connection to the existing hospital which will lead to the hotel which is to be built as park of the next phase, he went on to say that the hotel will be built to accommodate the hospital patients with things such as wider doors for hotel beds. The new hotel will also be used by the patients family & friend who will for one of the first times be given training by the nurses & doctors so they are able to care better for patients and be aware of signs to look out for, when getting treated at the Dr. Shetty Hospital gone are the days where you are treated and left to your own devises.