The original article can be found in: Cayman Compass By: Brent Fuller
Former Premier McKeeva Bush – the longest serving legislator in the Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly – couldn’t quite believe that lawmakers unanimously approved a crucial second reading of a bill that would legalise organ donation in the territory.
“Me being here for a long time and, I guess, coming from a bit too much of the old school, never ever dreamed we would get to this point where … we would be doing something like this in these islands,” Mr. Bush said during his debate on the Human Tissue and Transplant Bill, 2013. “We’re working late, but it’s a feel-good time for me.”
The tissue and transplant bill was among a raft of legislation green-lighted in second-reading approvals or fully passed in final, formal third readings on Friday evening; little more than a week before the current Legislative Assembly is due to be dissolved ahead of the 22 May general election.
They didn’t quite finish everything, though.
Lawmakers have scheduled a return to the assembly on Friday, to finish review of several bills left on the agenda. The tissue and transplant bill was referred to by Health Minister Mark Scotland as “potentially life-saving legislation” that was long overdue in the Cayman Islands.
“Many people are familiar with the need for transplants, whether it be kidney … some people with serious needs for a heart transplant,” Mr. Scotland said. “We’re very familiar with the difficulty of obtaining a transplant. Not having legislation to deal with transplants … here in the Cayman Islands precludes us from being on the international organ donors list … that puts us very low down on the list of those seeking organs.”
The bill was also one of the issues required for passage prior to the start up of a new hospital in East End. The legislation does not apply to foetal tissue, sperm or ova. It also requires that consent be given to remove organs or tissue from a human body and prohibits someone from removing tissue or organs from those who can’t legally give consent.
The bill makes illegal trading of human body parts a crime and establishes an oversight body to review the process of tissue donation and transplants, including inspections of any animal tissue imported into Cayman that would be used during transplant surgery. The issue of human tissue transplants was first reviewed in 2005 by a government-appointed committee and came to the fore again when Dr. Devi Shetty proposed his Narayana University Medical Centre in the Cayman Islands, or Health City Cayman Islands, as it is now formally known. The organ transplant proposal was also brought up and approved in a private members motion filed in the Legislative Assembly during 2010 by George Town legislator Ellio Solomon.
Medical practice
The Health Practice [Amendment] Bill, 2013, was also approved in a second reading by lawmakers Friday night, clearing the way for another key step in bringing Dr. Shetty’s hospital to Grand Cayman.
The bill removes a requirement for a visiting practitioners list or overseas list to be maintained in a register. Overseas practitioners are required to register with the relevant medical council and obtain a practising licence to practise medicine in the Cayman Islands.*
It also replaces the phrase “special registration” – introduced in the last round of amendments on the Health Practice Law in 2011 – with “institutional registration”. In the existing version of the law, special registration lasts two years and can be repeatedly renewed. The bill calls for institutional registration to also last two years, but it can only be renewed for two consecutive periods of two years.
The government introduced the “special registration” designation during amendments to the law in 2011 that allows practitioners licensed in an expanded list of countries to practise in the Cayman Islands. This was one of the conditions placed on the government by Dr. Shetty in his proposal to bring his medical tourism hospital to Grand Cayman.
Prior to those amendments, only practitioners whose qualifications had been gained in one of seven designated countries could practise in Cayman.
However, Minister Scotland said the bill was not just about Dr. Shetty’s hospital coming to Cayman “as had been intimated by some persons”.
Doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, including massage therapists and dieticians, will be required to get new practising licenses. At the moment, health practice councils issue annual certificates of registration to medical practitioners in the Cayman Islands. The new two-year practising licences will replace the annual registration process, which Minister Scotland described as “onerous”.
The existing annual registration fee to practise is $800 for medical doctors, dentists, dental hygienists, podiatrists, osteopaths and chiropractors and $400 for other health practitioners including acupuncturists, massage therapists, social workers, and dieticians.*
The bill did not stipulate what the licensing fees would be, but Mr. Scotland said they would be similar to the existing yearly registration fees.
“Now, every year, by law, it is required they [the medical professionals] go through the same due diligence to register. The councils go through the applications and checks that [the applicants] are qualified and experienced,” Mr. Scotland said.
Other bills
Lawmakers also approved tax information exchange agreements between the Cayman Islands and the countries of Italy, the Czech Republic and Qatar.
The passage of those agreements brings to 30 the total number of tax exchange agreements the Cayman Islands has signed with foreign jurisdictions since 2009.
Also passing unanimously Friday were two bills related to the financial services industry. The first, the Companies [Amendment] No. 2 Bill repaired a problem in the revised Companies Law from last year and more clearly defined the position of “alternate director” for an investment fund.
An amendment to the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority Law was also unanimously approved.
Editor’s note: This article has been amended from the original to reflect corrected information on health practice fees and the registration of overseas practitioners.
