Yesterday I learned a little more about healthcare in Panama. I drove to David to visit a seven year old in the Obaldia Children’s Hospital in David. Jafet, is a cousin of Mayra and he had surgery to resolve a problem in his throat. We arrived at the hospital at about 6:20PM, ten minutes before the beginning of visiting hours. While we waited in the queue for the elevator, I asked Mayra about the Hospital which appeared to be a state of the art, modern facility. Obaldia Children's and Maternity Hospital is a public hospital, although I cannot find anything to document it I have been told it was built with a grant from Taiwan.
Jafet was operated on by a doctor from the US, free. It appears that even though he could have had the same operation in August from a Panamanian doctor, there is a US team doing free surgery on children in David now. His pediatrician recommended he take advantage of the opportunity. He had the surgery free, if he had waited till August, he would have the surgery free also, because he is covered by Social Security.
The health care system in Panama is a bit confusing to me so I have asked questions, have some answers and hope others can add to what I write here because it is still a bit muddled in translation.
There are three groups of hospitals in Panama, Public hospitals operated by the Ministry of Health (MINSA), Social Security Hospitals operated by the Caja de Seguro Social and private hospitals. Olbalia Childrens Hospital is a public hospital, I am not sure if it is operated by Social Security or MINSA. The line between MINSA and Social Security hospitals is more about who operates and pays the budget then than the services rendered. Both render free services to people on Social Security and low cost services to anyone else.
Panama has both socialized and private medicine. If you work and pay social security you have access to doctors and hospitals. The system is always teetering on the brink. Services are similar to public hospitals at least in Arizona, crowded, slow and lacking concern. Emergency rooms are crowded and you might wait hours to see doctor, I remember doing that in University Hospital in Tucson AZ more than once. You might wait for a very long time for surgery for non life threatening situations, similar to what I have heard happens in Canada. The difference here is that if you have Social Security, you, your wife (not your husband if you are a working woman), your children and your parents can all be covered for free medical care and free medicines. Also if you choose you can always go to a private clinic or hospital and pay for faster services.
Our second hospital of the day was Hospital Chiriqui, a private hospital. Karina, Mayra’s daughter drove down from Boquete to the emergency room. She called and by the time we arrived from the other side of David, she was already in and out, diagnosed, medicated and ready to go home; cost $36.00. David has two good private hospitals, Hospital Chiriqui and Mae Lewis they are the choice of anyone who has the financial means to pay the bill. The public facilities are actually superior having more capital expendatures, the doctors are usually the same but the level of service and speed of service is far better in the private facilities.
An other option Karina might have used is the Regional Hospital in David, a public facility, I have been told in many waysit is state of the art but with slow, slow service. People who have had to go there for services the private hospitals cannot render have never been too happy about their experiences. I have not had any cause to use the Regional Hospital so I will omit any opinion. However if you need anti venom for a snake bite or blood in an emergency it is place to go, just have someone with you who can force attention. Hopefully people with experience can add more to this.
Finally our day moved to the far more pleasant experience of seeing Samy and Sandra in the Arco Iris building of the Boquete Fair Grounds. We arrived at about 8pm, the band took the stage just before 10pm, surprise. If you have never seen Samy and Sandra Sandoval perform this clip from YouTube will help you understand that they play music for dancing. They were excellent and many of the approximately three hundred people who were in attendance danced the night away. It was a prefect way to end a rather interesting evening in Panama.
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