Plans for the proposed US$350 million medical tourism hospital Aster Cayman Medcity appear to have been dropped.
The facility was announced in December 2020 at a joint press conference by Aster, the Progressives-led government and the late developer Gene Thompson.
The Central Planning Authority subsequently approved a ‘planned area development’, which refers to a site with mixed uses, for the healthcare facility on the 40-acre site at the junction of Batabano Road and Esterley Tibbetts Highway, in May 2021, but no work has been undertaken at the location.
Developers behind Aster Cayman Medcity had initially proposed building a 150-bed multi-specialty hospital, which would later be expanded to include 500 beds. The proposal also included plans for a medical school and assisted-living accommodations.
The hospital aimed to mainly target medical tourists from the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.
There has been no official confirmation from the Dubai-based Aster DM Healthcare group, which was the sole investors behind the project. However,
Mark Scotland, who had been a consultant on the project, recently told the Cayman Compass he is no longer involved.
He said of the Aster Medcity plan, “If you were to ask me if it’s going ahead, I would say it does not seem so.”
