The Tribune

BY NEIL HARTNELL

TRIBUNE Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

DOCTORS Hospital is partnering with a leading Indian medical institute to launch “a first of its kind specialist hospital” in The Bahamas to treat autism through a multi-million dollar investment billed as creating 75 local jobs.

Dennis Deveaux, the BISX-listed healthcare provider’s chief executive, told Tribune Business that its former Doctors Hospital West facility on Blake Road is set to become the home for Bahamas NeuroGen Ltd’s neurological wellness centre with an opening planned for the company’s financial third quarter that begins August 1.

Besides the real estate, he revealed that Doctors Hospital will also “provide support services” to the facility although its operation will be left to the Bahamian subsidiary of Neurogen Brain & Spine Institute, the Navi Mumbai-based provider that specialises in treating persons with “incurable neurological disorders” such as autism, cerebral palsy, strokes, dementia, spinal cord injuries, muscular dystrophy and motor neuron disease.

Mr Deveaux explained that the Bahamas NeuroGen tie-up will enable Doctors Hospital to “understand what this type of medicine involves and craft our own strategy” for regenerative and neurological medicine as part of imagining what the country’ health and wellness climate will look like come 2031 and beyond. He added that the BISX-listed provider may partner again with Neurogen Brain & Spine Institute, others or even go it alone when pursuing opportunities in this field.

The Doctors Hospital chief spoke out after the Bahamas NeuroGen project was unveiled by the Central Bank of The Bahamas in its June 2026 and second quarter economic developments report.

“A neurological wellness facility is planned for the former Doctors Hospital West on Blake Road, offering diagnostics, medical treatment, neuro-rehabilitation, integrative therapies and autologous stem cell therapy for patients with autism, cerebral palsy and other neuro-developmental disorders,” the Central Bank said.

“Expected to house 34 rooms, an operating theatre, a stem cell laboratory and rehabilitation facilities. The project is expected to employ at least 75 Bahamians. Thus far, the developers have requested 39 work permits.” Neurological and regenerative medicine is a specialist, evolving field and some expatriate expertise will be required to launch and place the Bahamian business on a sustainable footing in its early years.

Mr Deveaux, who told Tribune Business that Bahamas NeuroGen is “in the final throes” of satisfying the Immigration Department on its labour needs and approvals, said Doctors Hospital has emphasised to its Indian partner the need to employ Bahamians “in meaningful roles”. He added that this advice has been “embraced’, as both the medical head and head of nursing are local.

Asserting that the “knowledge transfer” and other benefits offered by Bahamas NeuroGen’s Indian parent will be major advantages for The Bahamas, Mr Deveaux added that Doctor’s Hospital’s share of the investment at Blake Road is “less than $1m”, with the capital mostly deployed in renovations and outfitting the facility, and the balance devoted to an extra hyperbaric oxygen chamber and vehicles.

The Doctors Hospital chief explained that the Government had paved the way for the Bahamas NeuroGen investment, and its own plans, by passing the Longevity and Regenerative Therapies Act 2024 (LARTA) to replace the original 2013 stem cell legislation. It established a legal framework for the approval, licensing and ethical regulation of advanced medical treatments such as gene therapy, stem cell procedures and functional medicine.

“We already, as part of our look towards 2031 and what medicine in the country might will involve, have taken note of the enabling legislative environment,” Mr Deveaux told Tribune Business. “The legislative environment is the Longevity and Regenerative Therapies Act 2024 that allows for establishing medical programmes in the space of longevity and regenerative medicine.

“Doctors Hospital intends to be at the forefront of that within the appropriate legal and regulatory framework locally. We have idle, and have finished renovating, the facility at Doctors Hospital West in order to host the country’s first paediatric specialist medical facility with the work and mission to treat those that have autism.

“Doctors Hospital’s role will be to primarily provide the facility and allied health services around the programme itself,” Mr Deveaux explained. “We are the host facility for a first of its kind paediatric specialist hospital in The Bahamas to treat for autism.

“Bahamas NeuroGen is in the final throes of satisfying the Central Bank and Department of Immigration, and the allied health professional councils through appropriate oversight and regulatory steps.” The Doctors Hospital chief executive said the Blake Road facility is due to open during the third quarter of the BISX-listed healthcare provider’s financial year, which runs from August 1 to end-October.

“That entity [Bahamas NeuroGen] has received its certificate of incorporation, and I believe it has the approval of the Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA),” Mr Deveaux said. “It’s now with the Central Bank for exchange control approvals.” He added that the neurological wellness centre will initially focus on paediatric treatments for autism, with the other services detailed by the Central Bank rolled out in later phases.

“The only point I would make, and it’s a very narrow point in terms of where the programme starts, is that it starts only with autism and will not add other neurological diseases in the first phase of the facility,” Mr Deveaux said. “They’ll move into paediatric autism cases once the facility is opened. Those additional phases will be appropriately facilitated by the LARTA committee.”

As for any concerns over the requested 39 work permits, he explained: “What we have advised Bahamas NeuroGen is they need to have Bahamians that are in meaningful roles in the hospital and oversight, and I think they have embraced that. The medical head and head of nursing are both Bahamians.

“They will have a significant role in the delivery of the programme itself, with significant knowledge transfer from Neurogen Brain & Spine Institute from India. Where the therapists exist, and nurses and allied professionals and administrators exist, they will be Bahamian.

“We expect Bahamas NeuroGen, in partnership with ourselves, as the host facility, will be a company run by Bahamians and benefit from the technology, advice, research and knowledge of a well-managed operator that originates from outside The Bahamas. They are working with very credible advisers to set up their operations here.”

Neurogen Brain & Spine Institute, according to its website, was founded in 2008 and won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2012 for its autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells grafting. It has expanded from treating 150 patients in its first year to 250 patients per month, and with a staff that has grown from six to nearly 200 full-time and contract workers.

As for Doctors Hospital’s share of the Blake Road investment, Mr Deveaux said: “It’s not very capital intensive. Our investment is less than $1m. Most of it is in the renovation and outfit of the facility. I would imagine, just knowing the scope of the programme, their’s [Neurogen Brain & Spine Institute] will be a multi-million dollar investment.

“Ours shouldn’t be more than $1m all-in. For shareholders, we have a business plan that sets out the proposed return from that.” Reiterating that Doctors Hospital will provide support services rather than operate the facility itself, Mr Deveaux explained that the partnership will open the door for the BISX-listed healthcare provider’s entrance into neurological and regenerative medicine.

“This gives us an opportunity to understand what this type of emergent field of medicine involves, and craft our own strategy in partnership with Bahamas NeuroGen, other partners or on our own. The legislation enables it,” he told Tribune Business.

Mr Deveaux said Doctors Hospital’s strategy is based on “three core objectives”. The first is that it will only target areas where there is “strong clinical interest”, with research-backed practices that demonstrate value and intend to conduct further study. And, setting out the company’s second and third criteria, he added: “We look for things that are low risk.

“We are not interested in exploring, not interested in chasing the latest trends in neurological and regenerative medicine. We are not chasing red herrings if you will. We also need to see strong demand drivers where demand is robust, and a strong pipeline of patients willing to travel to The Bahamas, introducing medical tourism, to receive a cure not available in their home market. Those are the three pillars we are looking at.”

Mr Deveaux hailed neurological and regenerative therapies as “kind of the next chapter of Doctors Hospital’s growth, and it will really transform healthcare delivery”. He added that the company has expanded, from just its Collins Avenue and “satellite” Blake Road facility just five years ago, to one with nine out-patient facilities that are “all financially viable” and see as many as 50,000 persons per year, with its new Grand Bahama hospital close to completion.

“This part of our journey continues to look at what the future holds for medicine,” Mr Deveaux said. “We have worked on this [Bahamas NeuroGen] for a very long time, and are very committed to improving things nationally. The fact we are able to launch this programme in The Bahamas speaks volumes to the forward thinking of the regulatory environment. We hope this is going to do a lot in our community.”