Aster DM Healthcare to build US$350 million, 500-bed hospital in Grand Cayman
Dubai-based Aster DM Healthcare is all set to establish a US$350 million, 500-bed hospital in Grand Cayman.
Speaking at a press conference Monday morning, Premier Alden McLaughlin said the Cayman Islands government was entering into a partnership with Aster and would be executing a legal agreement relating to the project immediately following the briefing.
The new health facility, which will be built in phases over several years, will include a hospital, assisted-living accommodations and a medical university, and will provide medical care to both local patients and medical tourists, the premier said.
Dr. Azan Moopen, founder of Aster DM Healthcare, speaking via Zoom, said the first phase of the facility was expected to be commissioned within “the next two to three years”.
He said the facility would target the 1.4 million medical tourists who travel overseas for healthcare from the United States annually, as well as patients from Canada and countries throughout the Caribbean.
(Dr. Azan Moopan, founder, managing director and chairman of Aster DM Healthcare)
Aster has some 365 medical facilities across eight countries, employing more than 19,000 employees.
Moopen said his company had been looking to expand to other countries outside Asia and the Middle East, and were “in search of an ideal location and supportive government and associates to make this a reality”.
“When we visited the Cayman Islands and met the honourable premier and other senior leaders, we were greatly impressed by the business-friendly environment, the easy accessibility to the highest levels of government, and the transparency along with the quality-focussed approach,” he said.
This would be the second Aster Medcity set up by the group. One already exists in Kochi, Kerala, in southern India.
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South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
