Connect with us

Caribbean News

Advanced Life Support System at Health City saves visitor’s life

Published

on

Cayman Islands, August 28, 2017 – A family vacation in a tropical paradise turned into a life or death situation for Surjeet Kaur when an unexpected viral infection became a critical health emergency.

Advanced life support technology at Health City Cayman Islands, a tertiary care hospital located in East End, Grand Cayman, saved her life.   Health City is the only medical center in the Caribbean region offering the life-saving service, called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

A stomach virus resulted in myocarditis for Kaur, who was visiting her son in the Cayman Islands from India.   Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle caused by various infections or drug toxicity.   In severe cases this can lead to heart failure and death.

Kaur was ill for five days with the viral illness, and initially on admission to a local primary care hospital her organs were showing good functionality.   However, her condition deteriorated significantly and quickly less than 24 hours later.

Her son, Simranjit Singh, who lives and works in the Cayman Islands, received a call from the hospital at 2 a.m. saying his mother was in critical condition.

Rushed by ambulance to Health City Cayman Islands, Mrs. Kaur was placed on ECMO life support, which allowed her heart to heal so she could recover.

By this time her blood pressure was dangerously low and other organs, especially her kidney and liver, started showing signs of failure.   Her failing heart would not have sustained her without life support.

The ECMO procedure involves channeling the patient’s blood into a roller pump that serves as the patient’s “heart” throughout treatment.   The ECMO machine is connected to a patient through plastic tubes (cannula) placed in large veins and arteries in the legs, neck or chest.   The pump sends blood through an oxygenator, which serves as an artificial lung, infusing the blood with oxygen and removing carbon dioxide and returning it to the patient.   During ECMO treatment, the patient’s heart continues to beat, but its work is made easier because the ECMO machine does much of the pumping.

Dr. Binoy Chattuparambil, Chief Cardiac Surgeon and Director of the ECMO program at Health City, explained the need for this procedure in Mrs. Kaur’s situation:  “We chose ECMO as it is less complicated and quick to institute.   With informed consent from her husband and family, ECMO was instituted through a vein in the groin.   She required very intense monitoring and treatment in the ICU for next few days, but the heart slowly and steadily showed signs of improvement and she was taken off ECMO.   An echocardiogram showed that the heart had recovered completely without any signs of damage. She went home with a strong and healthy heart and functional organs.”

During extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, the patient is the focus of a highly coordinated medical team and receives round-the-clock care while on the “heart lung machine”.    The length of time a patient remains on therapy depends on the diagnosis and the patient’s individual response.

An ECMO machine can help save a patient’s life, but it does not treat the patient’s disease or injury.   The machine simply provides support for a patient while the health care team works on treating the underlying disease or injury (such as an infection) or until organs for transplant become available.

Singh reported with great relief that his mother responded well to ECMO treatment.

“The treatment was successful. After 48 to 60 hours, she was out of danger … we were very thankful that she survived the treatment,” he said.

Dr. Chattuparambil noted that ECMO treatment is a team process and requires an experienced team of doctors and medical professionals.

“Health City Cayman Islands has a very strong, expert and experienced team of doctors, perfusion scientists and nurses who have managed many patients on ECMO and saved their lives.   The hospital has two ECMO machines, one of them is the most advanced design called CARDIOHELP which, being very small and compact, can be used to transport patients via road or by air,” he explained.

Dr. Binoy, as he is called, made note of the exceptional ECMO outcomes at Health City.

“During the last two and half years we have treated eight critically ill patients with ECMO, both children and adults.   With a survival rate of 90 per cent, our positive results are far better than the global average published by the ELSO (Extracorporeal Life Support Organization) registry, located in the United States,” he said.

Kaur’s family had words of thanks and praise for the entire Health City Team following her treatment.

Singh said: “We as a family want to thank Health City and all of the doctors here.   Along with the doctors, we want to thank the finance and admin team, as well as the hospitality staff.   They have been tremendous this last two weeks.   They have given us all the support we required. We have been away from our family back home, and they have come forward to be our family and treated us as a family member.   I have never seen such compassion and hospitality anywhere in the world as I have seen at Health City, so from the bottom of our hearts we wanted to thank Health City and all the staff for cooperating with us and giving us support at the time that we needed it.”

In addition to Dr. Binoy Chattuparambil, the ECMO team at Health City Cayman Islands includes cardiac surgeon Dr. Sumit Modi; Dr. Dhruva Krishnan and his team of anesthesiologists and intensivists; Perfusion scientists Lessley Christudos and Ravindra Deshpande; and Mevin Varghese and his team of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurses.

About Health City Cayman Islands

Health City Cayman Islands, the vision of renowned heart surgeon and humanitarian Dr. Devi Shetty, is supported by two major health-care organizations, Narayana Health and the U.S.-based Ascension, which is America’s largest faith-based and nonprofit health system, providing the highest quality care to all, with special attention to those who are poor and vulnerable.    Health City, only the second hospital in the Caribbean to receive the Joint Commission International’s “hospital accreditation”, provides compassionate, high-quality, affordable health-care services in a world-class, comfortable, patient-centered environment. Offering health care to local, regional and international patients, Health City Cayman Islands delivers excellence in adult and pediatric cardiology, cardiac surgery, cardiac electrophysiology, medical oncology, orthopedics, sports medicine, pediatric endocrinology, gastrointestinal and bariatric surgery, neurology, interventional neurology and neuro-diagnostics, neurosurgery, minimally invasive spine surgery, gynecology, urology, colorectal surgery, dental, sleep lab and pulmonology services.

For further information, visit www.healthcitycaymanislands.com.

Release: Health City Cayman Islands

 

 

Continue Reading

Caribbean News

Mottley Sworn in After Historic Clean Sweep in Barbados Election

Published

on

Barbados, February 12, 2026 – Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley was this afternoon officially sworn in for a third consecutive term, hours after delivering one of the most emphatic election victories in Caribbean political history — another complete capture of all 30 seats in Barbados’ House of Assembly.

The ceremony, conducted by President His Excellency Lt. Col. The Most Honourable Jeffrey Bostic, marked the formal start of a new administration following the February 11, 2026 general election, which returned the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to power with a renewed and overwhelming mandate.

In a statement after taking the oath, Mottley said she accepted the responsibility “with humility and resolve,” thanking the people of Barbados for placing their trust in her leadership once again and urging national unity as her government begins its new term. Attorney Wilfred Abrahams was also sworn in as Attorney General.

The result is historic not only for its scale but for its consistency. This is the third straight general election in which the BLP has won every constituency, reinforcing Mottley’s dominance in national politics and extending an unmatched era of one-party control in the modern democratic period.

Voting day unfolded under the watch of a CARICOM Election Observation Mission, led by Antigua and Barbuda’s Supervisor of Elections Ian Hughes and supported by senior electoral officials from Belize and Jamaica. The team engaged key institutions ahead of the poll and monitored the process across the island.

Regional leaders were swift in their congratulations.

Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali described the outcome as “emphatic and historic,” saying the clean sweep reflected how deeply Mottley’s leadership has connected with Barbadians and expressing optimism about strengthening ties between the two countries.

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness also hailed the victory, noting that her re-election provides an opportunity to deepen cooperation within CARICOM and advance shared regional priorities.

The scale of the win again leaves Barbados without a parliamentary opposition, a reality that has become a defining feature of the political landscape since 2018. Supporters argue the repeated mandate reflects public confidence in Mottley’s stewardship of economic reform, climate diplomacy, the transition to a republic, and Barbados’ expanding global influence.

Now, newly sworn in and backed by another unanimous parliamentary majority, Mottley begins a third term with both extraordinary political capital and equally high expectations at home and across the region.

Continue Reading

Caribbean News

Liberty Caribbean Committed to ‘Elevating Region’ at CANTO  

Published

on

Simone Martin-Sulgan, Vice President and General Manager, Flow Trinidad & Tobago

Liberty Caribbean is Diamond Sponsor of CANTO Connect 2026 and 42nd AGM

 

Port of Spain, TRININDAD & TOBAGO (February 1, 2026) — Liberty Caribbean, the operators of Flow. Liberty Business and BTC, has reaffirmed its commitment to turning regional connectivity into measurable economic and social outcomes as Diamond Sponsor of CANTO Connect 2026 and its 42nd Annual General Meeting.

CANTO is the leading regional body that brings together telecommunications operators, ICT providers, regulators, governments, and industry partners to support the development of the Caribbean’s digital and communications landscape.

Simone Martin-Sulgan, Vice President and General Manager, Flow Trinidad & Tobago delivered the sponsor’s address on behalf of Liberty Caribbean.

“The work of laying fibre and lighting towers is done; connectivity is now our foundation,” she said.

“The real task before us is to translate that foundation into innovation, productivity and prosperity for our people. Intelligent connectivity, such as networks designed for 5G, AI and IoT, will be the platform for smarter public services, more resilient systems and scaled opportunities for Caribbean entrepreneurs.”

Martin-Sulgan emphasised that infrastructure alone will not deliver sustainable progress.

“Digital progress must become digital prosperity. That means creating career pathways for young people, helping local businesses scale and ensuring citizens across our communities can fully participate in the digital economy. A connected Caribbean should also be a confident, creative and globally competitive Caribbean,” she said.

Liberty Caribbean is represented by a senior delegation at CANTO Connect to support the conference objectives of aligning policy, investment and execution across the region under this year’s theme ‘Elevate the Caribbean – From Connectivity to Global Competitiveness’.

Liberty Caribbean’s delegation includes Inge Smidts, Chief Executive Officer; Desron Bynoe, VP and General Manager, Flow Barbados; Susanna O’Sullivan, VP and General Manager, North Caribbean; Marilyn Sealy, Senior Director, Head of Communications; Dominic Boon, VP, People; Daniel Neiva, Chief Commercial Officer, B2B; Bradley Ramcharan, Director, B2B, Trinidad & Tobago; Yolande Headley, Country Manager, Dutch East Caribbean; and Jade Reymond, Country Manager, Flow Anguilla.

Martin-Sulgan thanked CANTO’s local secretariat for convening the forum and urged delegates to convert conversation into action.

“If we align policy, capital and capability, the Caribbean can move from connectivity to competitiveness. Liberty Caribbean will continue to invest in resilient networks, nurture homegrown talent and partner to deliver measurable social and economic value across our markets,” she said.

Continue Reading

Caribbean News

Adam Stewart named CNW’s Businessman/Philanthropist of the Year for 2025

Published

on

Executive Chairman of Sandals Resorts, Adam Stewart, has been named Businessman/Philanthropist of the Year for 2025 by the regional news publication, Caribbean National Weekly (CNW).

The publication recognised Stewart for his leadership in hospitality, his ongoing investments in regional tourism, his steady crisis response and his philanthropic work throughout what it described as a year filled with both remarkable achievements and significant challenges.

CNW highlighted how 2025 saw industry recognition for Stewart, major announcements of multimillion‑dollar developments across his all‑inclusive luxury resort brands and an invitation to join the prestigious Wall Street Journal CEO Council.

But the publication said his impact extended well beyond business milestones.

“In 2025, the Executive Chairman of Sandals Resorts didn’t just guide his iconic hospitality empire through crisis – he used its scale and influence to help shape Jamaica’s rebound and lay groundwork for future regional growth,” CNW wrote.

The defining moment, it said, came in late October when Hurricane Melissa caused severe damage to parts of Jamaica’s tourism infrastructure. Stewart responded by leading transparent communication with global travel advisors, partners and team members, and made a landmark pledge, that 100 per cent of Sandals and Beaches employees would remain on payroll and receive Christmas bonuses, even at resorts temporarily closed for extensive restoration and upgrades. The company also committed more than US$3 million in staff recovery aid, providing direct support to families affected by the storm.

CNW further highlighted the work of the Sandals Foundation under Stewart’s guidance, noting record levels of community engagement and targeted disaster‑recovery support in healthcare, livelihoods and the environment.

In response to the honour, Stewart said he was “deeply humbled” to receive the Businessman/Philanthropist of the Year recognition and expressed his gratitude to his teams and partners for their dedication during an extraordinary year.

“This award reflects far more than any one individual. It is a direct result of people showing up every day for their communities and believing business is a force for good. It belongs to the extraordinary teams who carry our shared vision forward – especially the Sandals Foundation, whose work continues to create lasting change across education, health care, disaster relief and environmental stewardship,” Stewart stated.

“To every colleague and partner who helps bring this mission to life – thank you for your commitment, heart and belief.”

Continue Reading

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

TRENDING