Fabian Brown (centre), chief executive officer of the St. Joseph's Hospital, speaks with Ewart Campbell (right), president of the Kiwanis Club of Downtown Kingston, and club member Oliver Jones, during the club's luncheon at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, in New Kingston, yesterday. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Calls for Jamaica to engage in health tourism were refreshed yesterday when Fabian Brown, chief executive officer of the St. Joseph's Hospital, said the nation should be capitalising on its tropical climate and geographic location.

Mr. Brown, who was addressing a Kiwanis Club of Downtown Kingston luncheon at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston, said the market could be profitable if properly organised.

"The sand, sea and the sun is no longer so fashionable, because you can get that in so many other areas of the region and even outside of the region," he said.

Mr. Brown argued that several analysts have predicted that this health tourism can generate huge amounts of income for any proactive nation.

Medical tourism in Asia

"(The) medical tourism product is being actively pursued in Asia, India and other parts of the world, " he said. "Why then isn't Jamaica a part of that proactive team?"

He pointed out that conservative estimates in the United States alone have indicated that some US$20 billion is spent by Americans on health care outside of their countries.

"Why aren't we getting some of those dollars?" he said. "We have the climate, it snows there, it doesn't here, we have the rainforest, we have the environment for recuperation."

Two years ago then Minister of Health John Junor said there were opportunities to capitalise on the health tourism nexus and suggested that perhaps this was a niche to which some of the hospitals could look to establish business opportunities and develop centres of excellence.

The then Health Minister was supported by Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) president, Horace Peterkin, who had said there was a huge market for cosmetic surgery, fat farms and indigent services.

Up to last year, the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ) said it was prepared to assist investors who were prepared to venture into that end of the tourism market.

"NIBJ must seek to invest in those who want to develop health and wellness tourism ... we are more than willing to help," Aubyn Hill, chairman of the state-owned bank, had said at the time.