Fly the doctor and the patient to an island

Most medical tourism models take the patient to the hospital, while some take doctors to patients in another country. A Canadian version is to take the doctor and the patient from their home country to a remote island. Two surgeons in Calgary, Alberta, regularly fly to the Turks and Caicos to perform operations on Canadian patients. The service is coordinated by Global MedChoices, a company based in Memphis, Tennessee. The company also offers the service to Americans and has two surgeons from the United States.

Most medical tourism models take the patient to the hospital, while some take doctors to patients in another country. A Canadian version is to take the doctor and the patient from their home country to a remote island.

Two surgeons in Calgary, Alberta, regularly fly to the Turks and Caicos to perform operations on Canadian patients. The service is coordinated by Global MedChoices, a company based in Memphis, Tennessee. The company also offers the service to Americans and has two surgeons from the United States.

With just a one-hour flight from Miami, the Turks and Caicos Islands is an English speaking British protectorate that is part of the British West Indies in the Caribbean.

The two main hospitals on the Turks and Caicos are run by Canadian group InterHealth, and the one used was built in 2010 and has Accreditation Canada International status.

According to Global MedChoice, this is a niche market. The limited numbers and Canadian connection means that can be confident they are receiving high-quality care from an experienced surgeon from their own country. So the common medical tourism worries about the competency of a foreign doctor and the conditions of an overseas hospital, both vanish.

Having a Canadian surgeon also helps with post-operative care after the return to Canada. The Calgary physicians who operate in Turks and Caicos sometimes perform on their own patients, and can therefore provide follow-up care themselves when back in Alberta.

The Canadian surgeons and their patients benefit by jumping local waiting lists. And for the surgeons, having a few days break from a Canadian winter in a warm and sunny place (350 days of sun a year) with great beaches and diving is hardly a hardship.

Most Global MedChoices clients are Canadian or American. In the 18 months that Global MedChoices has been operating, it has provided more than 50 procedures and has reported no complications.

It is not major surgery but the more routine, although often painful knee, hip or shoulder surgery. So the motivation is more on being able to get on with their lives that saving money. While recovering, patients stay at exclusive personal condominiums or hotels that are minutes from the hospital and very close to Grace Bay Beach.