Panama was once a most unhealthy place. When the “fortyniners” trekked across the jungle, headed for California, and the tracks of the first transcontinental railroad were being laid from Colon to Panama City, tropical diseases were rife.
Making the isthmus a healthy place was one of the first priorities as the USA began to dig the Canal and the American doctors not only eradicated yellow fever, malaria and typhoid, they inspired generations of Panamanian physicians to train in the USA and Europe and return to their homeland to build hospitals equipped with the latest technology.
Today health care and facilities in Panama are second to none. The sophistication and range of procedures available has made health tourism a significant factor in the growing tourist industry.
Health care in developed countries is generally exorbitantly expensive, often dogged by long waiting lists and indifferent care. Now, people from these countries are realizing that they can get as good or better treatment in other countries at a lower cost – and have a holiday into the bargain.
In Panama, health and medical tourism is growing rapidly, mostly because our medical professionals are well-trained abroad, bi-lingual and board-certified; and our hospitals have the latest technologies for surgery and sophisticated procedures.
On most procedures Panama offers savings of more than 50% over US and European prices and in addition, medical expenses (including travel) can be deductible under US tax law. The fascination with fitness, beauty and alternative therapies is another factor in the growth of health tourism.
The services a foreigner can find here include dental implants (average cost in the US $2,500. In Panama $1,000) plastic surgery, assisted reproduction, cardiology and ophthalmology. State of the art CAT scanning machines, tri-dimensional computer reconstructions and the latest radio therapies for cancer are some of the technologies available at Panama’s hospitals.
Hospitals in Panama City which cater to foreign visitors are Centro Medico Paitilla (affiliated with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation), Hospital Nacional and Hospital Punta Pacifica (affiliated to Johns Hopkins Medicine International).
Another of Panama City’s major hospitals is Clinica Hospital San Fernando (affliated with Tulane University Health Sciences Center, Hospital and Clinic; Miami Children’s Hospital and Baptist Health International of Miami) which has recently opened the Clinica San Fernando in Coronado offering 24 hour service to the growing ex-pat communities of Coronado, San Carlos, El Valle, Altos de Maria and Buenaventura. Their services include radiography, ultrasound and CAT scans; laboratory; dental and eye clinics and general medicine consultations teamed with specialist consultants in their main hospital in Panama City.
Hospital Chiriqui and the Mae Lewis Hospital in David, province of Chriqui, provide comprehensive health care.
Dr. Richard Ford who runs a family-owned clinic is an associate of an internet-based organization called Pana-Health which directs foreign treatment-seekers to appropriate afiliated doctors, hospitals and clinics. Pana-Health is also affiliated to Pesantez Tours, a local tour operator which looks after the transport, hotel and tourism needs of health-seekers.
Commenting about Panama’s technology compared to that of the “developed” world, Dr. Ford said “We had a case in which a patient from the U.S. became furious with his hospital back home because its obsolete computer programs were not able to read the CDs containing the tests he underwent in Panama”.
He commented that patients feel at ease because doctors and staff speak perfect English they also feel that they are treated with respect and that doctors are genuinely interested in them as individuals instead of making them feel like a number.
Alternative, complementary and preventative medicine are also well-represented in Panama. Acupuncture has its own professional body here – a branch of the Circulo de Investigadores de Acupunctura de China.
Other disciplines include Homeopathy, Homotoxology, Herbal Medicine, Prolotherapy, Intravenous Quelation, Magnetotherapy, Manual Therapies (Chiropractic, Reibi).
