Health
Where will life take
erman born, West African raised, Dr. Lutz (Joe) Ameche is a graduate of Grenada’s own St. Georges University. He decided to invest in Grenada, building and developing from the embryonic stage his very own internationally accredited and certified private medical hospital. “I was supposed to go back to Liberia and take over my Dad’s hospital, but civil war o f 14 years shelved that plan. The ground was fertile and ripe here, and the need was here, so I started this with my parents blessing and backing,” says Ameche who opened St Augustine’s Medical Services (SAMS) in July 1998. This private medical hospital located in St. Paul’s has 29 full time employees, six rooms with 12 beds, an operating theatre for surgery, and a maternity suite for deliveries. Recently they expanded with a new Computerized Tomography (CT) Scanner as well as a much needed hemodialysis unit for kidney related medical care. The need for this machines is indicative of the growing prevalence of diabetes in the Caribbean. Dialysis is often the main treatment for diabetic patients with damaged kidneys with the dialysis machine performing the function of the kidneys - ridding the body of waste material. “About 2% of the Grenadian population are affected by diabetes, and it is getting worse. So that is the next step for Sam’s and I think that this alone could increase tourism to the island by 15-20%. allowing for visitors to continue getting treatment 3 times a week now, enjoy what Grenada has to offer and still get your treatments with confidence. There must be upwards of 50 million people who can’t go anywhere, because they have to stay close to their unit,” Ameche explains.
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Ameche confirms that SAMS is amalgamating its services with the island health services to become one medical entity in Grenada. “The big plan now is getting involved with dialysis. “We will have dialysis here that is internationally known and accredited and people can come here who are on treatment and get what is on par in their country. Before these people could not take a vacation because they needed their treatments,” says Ameche. Dr. ‘Joe’ further explains that by marketing Grenada to the dialysis centers in the UK, www.businessgrenada.com
and USA there will be information on Grenada and specifically this program, and their insurance will pay for the treatment.
SAMS offers a medical health care plan with monthly fees starting at EC$40
plus they can enjoy a little holiday here. The program is already working on a small scale, with patients from Canada, the U.S.A and the U.K. “It’s a big market for us, Grenada
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