Medical care is of a high standard, for a self-contained community of 50,000. Besides a fully equipped government hospital and dental clinic, there is one private hospital and dozens of private doctors, dentists and pharmacists. Oh, and a small govt hospital even on the second island, which has only 1500 people or so. Basic medical insurance is compulsory for all residents. Expats with only the basic coverage usually fly to Jamaica or Cuba. Arrangements exist with large hospitals in Florida and certain other US states for complicated surgery or other treatment.
(I had my first cataract removed in Florida, and the second one done here. They were equally effective; the local one was more expensive. My wife flew to Miami for her breast-cancer radiation, but the lumpectomy was done here. We get all our dental work done here.)
Medical care in the Cayman Islands
Thanks for this sharing Gordon!
Harmonie.
Hi Gordon,
Can you tell me what most people do for cancer treatment on Grand Cayman?
I read a few years ago that they were going to build a cancer hospital in Grand Cayman... is that still the intent?
Thanks for anything you can share!
Jen
My wife had a lumpectomy (a cancerous lump taken out of her breast) by a visiting English surgeon who comes here off and on throughout the year, with our local government hospital's anaestheologist and local nurses, but she had to go to one of the big Miami hospitals for radiotherapy - all on insurance, by the way. Mammograms etc are done locally, and biopsies. If we ever lost the insurance cover, we/she might go to Cuba or Panama or one of the other Latino countries, where the treatment is more affordable and probably better facilities. There is also a hospice here, which I think employs MacMillan nurses; but there is no cancer hospital as such, and none in the offing.
