The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

WITHIN the next six months, the Bahamas Heart Centre is expecting to open a new stem cell manufacturing facility, announced Dr Conville Brown, director and chief executive officer. Estimated at about 2.5 million dollars, the new facility will likely be located on the fourth floor of the existing BHC building.

The announcement came after the successful completion of the Bahamas’ first cardiac stem cell treatment, a medical tourism milestone for the country.

Dr Brown said the new facility will focus on giving patients the convenience of a “one stop shop”, where the patient can come to the Bahamas, have their blood drawn, have their cells processed, administered all under one roof and then fly back home. It is all done in one place, one time, one price and one package, he said.
When asked what is the next step for this procedure in the Bahamas, Dr Brown said:

“The first procedure has been done and we have already have a number of procedures lined up. We are just going to be looking at the various schedules because again, we are going to be bringing in an entire team.”
He said in during the course of the next several weeks, the BHC will undertake to perform stem cell injection therapy in two other patients.

“One of them will be a cardiac patient and the other patient has bad blockages in the legs. We will do stem cell injections into the leg in order to improve the blood flow in hopes of saving the limb,” said Dr Brown.

The procedures offered by the BHC are also available to Bahamians who meet a strict set of criteria. “We have a very strict set of criteria to follow by virtue of the clinical research protocol. So once a Bahamian qualifies, than by all means,” he said.

Dr Brown said the treatment being offered locally represents a major advancement in the treatment of diseases that are either incurable or difficult to manage.
“On the medical tourism side, it allows us in the Bahamas to provide a service to people from outside of the country, would couldn’t have accessed that service where they come from. Which is what medical tourism is about in the first place, but from a conventional perspective, one would travel because the service is less expensive,” said Dr Brown.

With the new treatment, there is room for future expansion into treating other diseases, such as diabetes and cancer, said Dr Brown.

“We are in the process of establishing the Partners Clinical Research Centre, which is the overseeing body for this particular research protocol. And there will be other research protocols. Whether it is with diabetics, stroke patients, patients with bad lung diseases, there will be other protocols that will be established. There will be a whole host of diseases that this team will be able to offer services to, including other specialities and other disciplines that are not necessarily cardiac in the main,” he said.