Healthcare in Merida, Yucatan

I have had nothing but positive experiences with health care here in Yucatan. The first emergency situation we experienced was a root canal about 2 weeks after we moved into our home. The seller of our home whom we made friends with called his dentist for an appointment the same day as I called. That was to do an evaluation to determine if in fact I did need a root canal. I did and the dentist not only arranged it for later that same day, but wouldn't let me pay for his consultation. The root canal was done that evening, took about an hour and was totally painless. I was amazed at the technology that was used--continuous x-rays via a connetion to the endodontist's laptop so that he knew precisely where to drill. The charge for the root canal was only $1800 pesos. I then had to return to my friend's dentist for the crown which cost $3000 pesos. Both were first class experiences and I would recommend either of these dentists.

My next medical venture was a tummy tuck with Dr. Nunez at Clinica de Colon. The cost was about 1/3 of what I was quoted in US. Highly recommend him. I did have to return later to have him remove an errant stitch that he had missed originally, but that was certainly no big deal.

Next I decided to do my annual physical with Dr. Icaza at Star Medica. What a fabulous experience. Everything scheduled and done in the same location within 2 days and again cost was less than my co-pay would have been in US. I also had to have several tests done to determine cause of chronic cough so I saw ENT doctor and also had a lung function test. Final test was endoscopy done by Dr. Icaza. Result was hiatal hernia and acid reflux. I did go to the clinic in Progreso twice about the chronic cough and was not impressed with the treatment there. I was told that it was the humidity here and given Rx for cough medicine.

I've also seen a dermatologist for annual body check twice and had moles removed. Much better than treatment received in US at 1/3 cost and no scarring. Nearly all the doctors I've seen have spoken English on some level, although receptionists usually not.

I was also hospitalized with a bout of vertigo at the ER at Star Medica, just for about 4 hours.

My husband went to ER at Star Medica when he rubbed his eye after cutting back some cactus. He first went to the clinic in Progreso and got no results from them, but ER at Star Medica immediately called Opthamologist for instructions then after washing the eye for 30 minutes, sent him upstairs to see the Optha. He had nothing but praise for this experience.

Another experience when we first arrived in Progreso and didn't know anything about health care at all was when my husband was trimming bushes and accidentally brushed up against a gorgeous caterpillar on the leaves. Within 30 minutes his hand was numb and pain was shooting up his arm into his chest. We took a leaf with the caterpillar on it to the local pharmacy and showed them and they gave him a cream to rub on it. That didn't help and when our neighbor saw the caterpillar she told us 'injection'. Not knowing where to go, we went to the hospital in Progreso where we had seen the "red cross" (indicating emergency room and ambulance). Turns out we were at the IMSS hospital. Of course, they asked us for papers and we had none and spoke virtually no Spanish. Luckily we had taken the caterpillar with us again. We showed it to the security guard. She went back inside and about 5 minutes later came back to get us, even though the waiting room was full. Took us in to see the doctor who immediately gave hubby 2
'injections', a handful of pain pills and asked him to write his name on piece of paper. When we asked "how much", they wouldn't even let us pay. Turns out the hairs on these caterpillars contain poison/toxins. (See photo of caterpillars in Related Gallery.)

You can contact me at dmprewett@yahoo.com for more info. Glad to help.