Anguilla’s Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon, Dr Ellis Lorenzo Webster MD, F.A.C.S., is in the course of working out arrangements for teams of medical and surgical specialists from the United States to provide working clinical visits to the island. The aim, in cooperation with the health system in Anguilla, is to provide a range of varied services to patients, the majority of which are not readily available on the island.
Dr Webster, a medical and surgical practitioner in South Florida, currently pays monthly visits back home to see patients at his Island Comprehensive Medical Centre at the Sam Mason Complex on the Stoney Ground Road.
He visited The Anguillian several days ago to speak about his plans. He was accompanied by Dr Rajen Naidoo, an Orthopaedic Surgeon Specialist who, among other things, has developed clinics in Africa, among other places, mostly on a charitable basis; and Mr Bobby Cellar, an Attorney and Businessman .“What we want to do is to bring to Anguilla well-trained and qualified specialists,” Dr Webster explained. He was particularly happy to have Dr Naidoo working with him as a visiting specialist. “With his expertise, it facilitates my getting a multi-specialist clinic going,” he stated. “Along with him, we are meeting other specialists in the United States, and we hope that we can also encourage Anguillian specialists out there to come back to Anguilla to help us develop this healthcare service.”
Dr Webster continued: “We would like, using Dr Naidoo’s expertise also, to help to develop the hospital in Anguilla – to upgrade it so that some of the standards we are accustomed to are up to those of a first world nation. If that is not possible, then we may even move towards a private hospital that provides these services. We think a lot of people want to come to Anguilla, but one of the deterrents is that our healthcare system is not up to par. We hope that if we can raise that level of healthcare provision, that we can encourage tourists to come to the island or encourage people to retire down here, and buy or build villas to help enhance our economy. It is not only that we want to improve the health of our nation, but we also want to improve the economy of our nation and these are ways we can do it.”
Dr Naidoo, a past fellow student of the Anguillian surgeon, said he was in Anguilla “at the request and disposal of Dr Webster. Dr Webster and I have a long friendship and I trust him,” the Orthopaedic Surgeon stated. “He is doing very well on his own, but since he has asked for my input, I believe that you have a lot of similarities in Anguilla with third world countries. My experience in building clinics in Africa, with my philanthropic organisations, encounters similar bureaucratic problems, similar financial issues and similar issues with people’s expectations. So you have that on a smaller scale down here in Anguilla, and I believe that those can be overcome very easily with the right expertise and the right perspective.
“What we bring is a different perspective with great respect to the people who work in, and are from, Anguilla. Sometimes you need an outside look at the problems in order to facilitate a little bit of change. So we humbly and respectfully come to Anguilla to provide whatever assistance we can. The main thing is that I require nothing from Anguilla. We are here pretty much because we respect what you have as an island; respect who you are, and want to provide some degree of expertise and assistance that we have.”
Dr Webster told The Anguillian that this was not the first time he had attempted to bring specialists to Anguilla as part of his plans for a multi-specialist clinic on the island. “I have submitted applications for several physicians starting about two years ago and, to this date, we have not been able to get them registered – and usually the holdup is at the Medical Board. We want cardioloigists, urologists, gastroenterologists, orthopaedic surgeons, ophthalmologists – and these are all specialists who have already submitted applications, but they have not been passed. So we are way advanced in terms of having the personnel. It is just that we want to do it the right way, where they are registered in Anguilla, can come to the island and practice and take care of patients here.
“Right now, patients have to travel abroad to get the services and, as I said, there are more physicians like Dr Naiboo who are willing to come to Anguilla and help us out on a rotating schedule. These are services that we can provide right now if we had the specialists registered with the health service… It beats me as to what the holdup is.”
Meanwhile, the other visitor who accompanied Dr Webster to Anguilla, Mr Bobby Cellar, has been a Healthcare Attorney for many years. “Through my association with Dr Naiboo, I met Mr Cellar and he immediately felt that what we want to do in Anguilla is something that he would like to get involved with,” said Dr Webster. “He has projects and business ventures that he would like to look at Anguilla as a prospective island to build up these businesses.”
Mr Cellar commented in part: “Currently, I represent hospitals across the United States and we outsource a lot of our business to other countries. Dr Webster asked if I would be interested in outsourcing some of my business, finding an office and employing a staff here in Anguilla, and we actually want to look at that today. We also serve the Philippines, India, and many other places that are a lot farther away. It is easier, from a management standpoint, to have something a little closer. For healthcare, we would like to build a healthcare call centre here. It would be an extension of my office which is in Boca Raton, Florida. We have a collaboration with Florida Atlantic University to hire and train students as interns, so we have discussed creating something similar here. Dr Webster mentioned that there are a lot of children graduating from school who do not have jobs. In today’s world of social media, there are a lot of things they can do, in marketing as well, so I think there is a lot of opportunity for the component of what I do.”
Mr Cellar also said that he was the owner a record company associated with universal record and entertainment companies in Los Angeles, California, interested in doing business in islands like Anguilla.
Dr Webster is looking forward to the fulfilment of his plans to establish a multi-specialist clinic and other services in Anguilla, in due course, all things being equal.
