(Trinidad Guardian) One of Colombia’s leading cardiovascular hospitals has extended its services to the Children’s Life Fund, a pet project of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, at a fraction of the cost in the US. In a letter dated May 11, 2012, the Fundacion Cardiovascular de Colombia (FCV), based in the city of Bucaramanga, sent a price proposal to the fund’s CEO Geoffrey Lewis, offering high-complexity surgeries to four of its children seeking medical attention at a steal of a deal.
The four invoices totalled US$97,580.62 or TT$600,000. This price includes room, surgeon, assistant and anaesthesiologist fees. FCV noted that the total and individual prices are approximate and may differ from the final cost, depending on the patient’s medical condition and evolution.
Colombia hospital offers cheaper surgery for Life Fund kids
The children, three girls and one boy, whose ages range between 16 and four, need cardiovascular surgery. The surgeries that are needed are aortocoronary anastomosis of one coronary artery, mitral valve replacement, transatrial repair of tetralogy of fallot with pulmonary stenosis, creation of conduit between right ventricle and pulmonary artery, bilateral pulmonary angiogram with right catheterisation, thoracic aortogram and left side cardiac catheterisation.
Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan said the fund deals specifically with cases that cannot be done in T&T. Khan could not say how many children in the fund were seeking medical attention, however. “The Life Fund kicks in with things that cannot be done here in life-threatening emergencies.” Khan said no matter how many proposals FCV sends, “The thing about it is, if the law does not allow, it cannot happen.”
Told that the four cases were deemed complex by FCV, Khan said people have been saying so in order to bring cardiologists to our shores to perform the surgeries. Khan said he intends to visit Colombia with principal medical officer in the Ministry of Health, Dr Colin Furlonge soon.
“Furlonge was in Colombia and he did a fact-finding mission with the Government of Colombia. We can’t deal with private institutions just like that. We have to deal with this on a government-to-government agreement.” Khan said the Colombian government had extended an invitation to him to see how best “we can access care on both sides.”
Khan seeks out doctors
By September, Khan said, he would visit Colombia to seek neurologists, cardiologists, haematologists, radiologists, pathologists and ophthalmologists. Following a visit by the Sunday Guardian to the FCV on July 5 organised by Proexport, the hospital’s sales director, Tatiana Charry, confirmed that the proposals had been sent.
Proexport, which hosted a familiarisation trip for the media, offers detailed and professional assistance for investors that find interesting business opportunities within the different economic sectors in Colombia. FCV, however, noted that in order to finalise the deal, they will have to sign an agreement to let them receive patients from Trinidad. “This agreement will need to specify who will pay for the medical treatment,” Charry explained.
If the T&T Government opts for the surgeries to be performed in the United States, Charry said, it would cost double the amount. “If it is done here they would save about half the expense,” Charry insisted. A team of FCV paediatric cardiac surgeons are willing to perform the surgeries, Charry said.
“We believe it is better to have the children come over to our facility and have the surgeries done here. The issue in Trinidad is that there are not a lot of specialised doctors for complex cases like the ones with these children.” Charry said FCV approached the fund directly after a two-day visit to Trinidad three months ago, at a health fair. “We contacted them offering our services.”
Charry said surgery could be scheduled for the same week the patient arrives. On July 20, CEO of FCV Victor Raul Castillo Mantilla along with a team of FCV healthcare providers, will arrive in Trinidad via a private jet to meet with health officials at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex. They are hoping to meet Khan.
“Our purpose is to offer our co-operation in medical care and to propose to use telemedicine for different specialties. “We are a referral centre for telemedicine in Colombia,” Charry said. Charry said they were also arranging to meet with several insurance firms.
