Doctor’s Hospital sees revenue rebound driven by focus on COVID support

Hospital provides over 150,000 COVID-19 tests over the past 12 months, more than 90,000 of which were rapid antigen tests

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Doctor’s Hospital’s chief financial officer said yesterday the BISX-listed healthcare provider has seen a full recovery of its top line and earnings driven by its “pivot” towards COVID-19 support.

Dennis Deveaux told Eyewitness News: “Fiscally, we have done just fine. Back in April and May, we had a dramatic shift in our revenue. We saw a decline in our revenues.

“But since then, our revenues have recovered and [been] driven, really, by our pivot in the support for COVID.

“We have now delivered over 150,000 COVID-19 tests over the past 12 months and more than 90,000 have been rapid antigen tests. We have been doing so with price leadership in mind.”

According to Deveaux, the healthcare provider would be in a position to handle another surge of COVID-19 cases should the situation arise.

Last week the healthcare provider announced that, pending the approval of the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, the board of directors of Doctor’s Hospital had voted to issue 2,000,000 of its unissued and authorized common shares to a subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited of Toronto, Canada, (Fairfax) at a subscription price of B$6.75 per share.

Doctor’s Hospital noted that proceeds from the private placement (B$13.5 million) will be used to finance strategic growth, enabling Doctor’s Hospital to explore new service opportunities in the outpatient area and to augment the delivery of critically needed healthcare services outside of New Providence.

Deveaux yesterday noted that the equity injection by Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings had come at a time when the healthcare provider was at its strongest in terms of its cash position.

“There are probably three core areas where we see a clear earmark for investment,” said Deveaux.

“The first one is in off-island inpatient hospital care — outside of Nassau. We clearly see that need.

“We see the need for an expansion in outpatient space beyond laboratory services.”

He added: “The third area is about enhancing our remote telehealth offering. This would be in parts of The Bahamas where you might not be able to put a full hospital or a clinic but you can put kiosks and other remote infrastructure.

“We’re not in a hurry. We’re going to make the appropriate business and operational plans and share those with our board of directors.

“I think that certainly within the calendar year, we are likely to take our first crack into one of, if not all three of, those ventures.”