The holding company for the largest Catholic health care system in the country, Ascension Health, has announced it will partner with a system based in India to build a $2 billion "health city" in the Cayman Islands, a venture described by an expert as "an odd partnership," according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Although officials for the holding company, Ascension Health Alliance, say the intent for the project is not "medical tourism" and have promised to provide care to the poor in the Caribbean and South America, the system's partner, Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospitals, promotes it as a low-cost alternative for U.S. citizens who cannot afford medical care, the newspaper reports.
Ascension Health, a nonprofit system, recently started another for-profit venture, Ascension Health Care Partners, which is now in exclusive negotiations to buy seven Catholic hospitals in New Jersey.
