The Asbru community of education and entrepreneurs in southwest Iceland is one of the country’s leading innovation centres and has come one step closer to adding world-class health services to the list of onsite amenities.
The Asbru Innovation Centre is located on the former NATO base right next to Keflavik International Airport, the busiest airport in Iceland. Asbru is now set to become home to a brand new international health services centre, according to the new Term Sheet jointly signed by the Keflavik Airport Development Corporation (Kadeco) and Iceland Health.
The Iceland Health medical centre idea fits well with Kadeco’s efforts to nurture a health village concept whereby businesses working in health related industries are clustering together to exploit synergies.
Iceland Health wants to boost specialist medical services at Asbru and start regular medical tourism in Iceland. Iceland Health’s initial product offering will include joint surgery and obesity surgery, including important post-surgery rehabilitation. Obesity services will also include a range of behavioural treatments against obesity.
In the pursuit of excellence, Iceland Health will collaborate intimately with well-known experts in the field from Scandinavia and the UK. To this end, important personnel have already been recruited for the project.
A professional advisory council will work behind the scenes to support the Asbru health centre. The advisory council already has confirmed members including: Otto Nordhus, chest wall surgeon; Bjarni Sem, heart surgeon and Leif Ryd, orthopaedic surgeon. The council will also include obesity and rehabilitation experts.
The largest single clients at the Iceland Health clinic are expected to be the public authorities in Scandinavia and the UK, as well as large Scandinavian institutions unable to fulfil their obligations to authorities with regard to the volume of required operations and therapy.
In addition to this, a significant portion of visitors to the Asbru centre will be made up of British and Scandinavian citizens who have had to wait longer than three months for essential medical treatment.
The new clinic will assure that Asbru is seen as the biggest centre for health tourism in Iceland. Asbru is already home to several innovative companies in the health and wellness sector. More information can be found at: www.asbru.is
