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MOU signed for medical tourism zone in MoBay

Published:Thursday | May 20, 2021 | 12:10 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
Dr Guna Muppuri (left), president and chief executive officer of the pharmaceutical Bioprist Group, and Professor Dale Webber, pro vice-chancellor and principal of The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, sign a memorandum of understanding on Tuesda
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Dr Guna Muppuri (left), president and chief executive officer of the pharmaceutical Bioprist Group, and Professor Dale Webber, pro vice-chancellor and principal of The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, sign a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday for the creation of a health and wellness-focused economic zone for medical tourism and training in Montego Bay, St James.

WESTERN BUREAU:

The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, and the pharmaceutical Bioprist Group on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the creation of a health and wellness-focused economic zone for medical tourism and training in Montego Bay, St James, which is slated to open in early 2022.

The virtual signing ceremony was attended and witnessed by Deputy Prime Minister Dr Horace Chang and representatives of the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO).

Dr Guna Muppuri, the Bioprist Group’s president and chief executive officer, said that the opening of the medical tourism zone, which will be built at a cost of US$17 million (J$2.5 billion) and will provide training for overseas medical professionals, was pushed back from its original deadline of September 2021 because of the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the MOU, the planned healthcare zone will be able to accommodate a 300-bed teaching and research hospital that will provide medical tourism services. The UWI and other local and international universities will be able to host satellite campuses with accredited programmes in medicine, chiropractic nursing, dentistry, and other fields.

In his remarks, UWI pro vice-chancellor and principal, Professor Dale Webber, said that the MOU would allow for an equal partnership between Bioprist and The UWI to make plans for the development of medical programmes.

“This MOU is very valuable because it is actually a door-opener. It is in the MOU for us to have a team of an equal number of persons from Bioprist and The UWI who will sit to nail down what exactly we would want to do, and in what sequence we want to do it,” Webber said.