YOU CAN AFFORD TO GET SICK HERE:  MEDICAL CARE IN CUERNAVACA

James J. Horn, Ph.D.

I am often disgruntled by travel literature, especially articles advising Americans on the best places to retire. They frequently lack information on health services and medical care. Some of the magazines specializing in this genre seem to glorify medically-challenged remote places like coastal Ecuador or the interior of Belize without any reference to the availability of good medical care. International Living magazine just recommended Tulum as the best place for ex-pats in Mexico. Not a mention of health services but having been there I don’t think I’d want to get sick there.  In my articles on Cuernavaca, Mexico, I have never had to exaggerate the high quality of health services here.

Obviously ex-pats from the U.S. and Canada who have good insurance and return often to their home countries  try to plan for routine preventive care and surgeries  while there. But one can’t always plan one’s health crises. Emergency care is of particular interest to tourists and temporary residents like Spanish-language students for which the city is famous. One can dial 066 for all emergency services and, in a medical emergency, request an ambulance. If you are able to take a taxi, an excellent  choice for rapid attention is Cruz Roja,  Red Cross (Rio Pánuco corner Los Volcanes, tel. 315 3505 or 3515). The cost of a consulta is just 100 pesos ($5.55 US at the current rate of exchange of about 18 pesos to the dollar).  X-rays, EKG, and lab tests are extra but a fraction of the cost for those services in the States. Resident physicians are on duty 24 hours; some specialists keep regular office hours there, and other specialists are on-call. One physician told me that Red Cross has the best traumatologists. So if you are careless like me and put a deep gash in your finger while trimming bushes, you will be sewed up and bandaged quickly, and depart with instructions on changing the dressing and a prescription for an antibiotic and pain killer in half an hour. That can take much longer during the late-night/early-morning hours on a weekend when the battered victims of bar fights and car accidents tend to accumulate. (I am wary of donating cash to Red Cross collections on the street, so whenever I visit the clinic I make an additional donation there).

But you don’t need to have an emergency to go to Red Cross. If you have concerns about your blood pressure, blood sugar, a muscular pain, or some other  medical issue and you don’t have a local physician, take yourself to Cruz Roja, pay the 100 pesos, and put yourself in good hands. If the attending physician feels a specialist is in order, you will be referred to one, possibly one with regular hours at the clinic. Should the attending physician believe hospitalization is in order, attendants will bring in a gurney and wheel you next door to Hospital Henri Dunant, one of the best in the city (Rio Pánuco 100, tel. 316 7992).

Ten years ago I took a taxi to Cruz Roja suffering from intense abdominal pain and vomiting. I was rushed to radiology where x-rays showed a blocked intestine. I was hospitalized immediately and seen by a gastro-intestinal surgeon who was able to use a non-surgical technique to unblock the intestine. The cost for two nights hospitalization and physician care was less than $500 US. The bill in a U.S. hospital would have been in the thousands of dollars and surgery might have been performed instead of the non-surgical technique. Henri Dunant  has a cardiology unit and liaison with Clínica Cárdica which specializes in cardiology, including emergency and therapeutic care (Alta Tensión 580, Col. Cantarranas, tel. 310 0012).

Another outstanding hospital is Instituto Mexicano de Trasplantes, Alta Tension 580, Col. Cantarranas (tel. 318 3362). Many residents consider it the best. It has an excellent emergency room and ambulance service with a physician aboard. Its many specialties (like kindney transplant) include cardiac care, and orthopedic and vascular surgery.  Regardless of which of these hospitals is the best, it’s great to know there are such excellent choices.

If one has the time to drive to nearby Mexico City, the highest recommendation goes to Hospital Ángeles-Lomas (Avenida Vialidad de la Barrranca s/n, Col. Valle de las Palmas, off the highway to Querétaro, tel.55-5246 5000). This is “easily the best hospital in Mexico,” according to Drs. Robert H. Page and Curtis P. Page, in their book Mexico, Health and Safety Travel Guide  (Med to Go, 2007). My friend at Henri Dunant agrees. Unfortunately the book is out of date on other recommendations, e.g. saying Hospital Inovamed is the best in Cuernavaca, but it has since closed.

There are outstanding medical specialists in Cuernavaca, and I list some of them in my guidebook. But having inherited eye problems, I want to give special mention to Ophthalmologists: Drs. Jorge Erazo Salgado and Jorge Erazo Gaona (father and son) who provide excellent services including surgery and emergency laser treatment (Morelos Sur 215, tel. 314 2073).  A few years ago I experienced floaters in my right eye. Since my father had two detachments and lost vision in one eye, I rushed to their office and was attended to within twenty minutes. Dr. Erazo Gaona said it was a hemorrhage and I needed laser surgery to prevent a detachment. I panicked since I had to meet a group of 38 tour clients the next day at the Mexico City airport. Dr. Erazo told me to relax, come back for the surgery after office hours, and I would be fine in the morning.  He has a laser in the office and was able to seal the retina, but I had to wait for the blood to recede before he could do two further treatments to be sure no detachment would occur. The cost of the 6 visits and three treatments was $300 US.  A physician friend was very pleased with Lasix surgery by Dr. Erazo Gaona and he was delighted to throw away his glasses.

Medical tourism is a growing specialty in Mexico and Cuernavaca physicians ought to be considered  for those seeking to escape non-insured high costs in the U.S. That includes excellent plastic surgeons offering a full array of treatments including relatively inexpensive hair transplants. Since I don’t do drag, I haven’t tried the breast implants, but a friend is thrilled with hers.

Many U.S. residents cross the border into Mexico for dental care since it is so much less expensive than in the U.S. or Canada. Indeed, a recent visitor from Vancouver needing extensive work found he could pay for a vacation in Cuernavaca with what he saved in costs. Many dentists have been educated in the States and fly north for continuing-education clinics.

Among other wonderful health benefits in Mexican cities are inexpensive walk-in clinical laboratories. Without a prescription one can have a variety of blood, urine, and fecal tests. There are scores of these labs all over Cuernavaca.  You pay a deposit and the balance when you pick up the results, or pay in advance and they fax the results to your physician.

For cancer diagnosis, treatment, and palliative care, the best known oncologist is Dr. José Manuel Tello, Centro Oncológico Belenus, Corporativo Teopanzolco, Rio Balsas 33, Col. Vista Hermosa. (tel. 310 2726, 310 5364).

Perhaps my personal anecdotes don’t match the experience of other residents and ex-pats in Cuernavaca, and there is a space for comments on my blog. But I think we would all agree that one can live here with confidence in the care available.

A former colleague of mine retired to another city in Mexico more favored in the travel literature. A few years ago she returned to the States because, she claimed, three of her friends died who wouldn’t have died had better medical care been available. I suspect there were other circumstances affecting her decision to move, but I doubt anyone living in Cuernavaca has such worries.

Another health benefit is that many prescription drugs are less expensive in Mexico than the co-pay for the same medications in the U.S. Some of my tour clients  bought Retin A without a prescription at a fraction of the cost in the U.S. Many people living on the border drive across for medical and dental clinics and pharmacies. Some pharmacies even have doctors on duty to write prescriptions in the case of the few medications that require them like antibiotics and barbiturates. Not recommended are the so-called alternative clinics for cancer. It should be logical that grapefruit-juice enemas will not cure colon tumors.

To end on a lighter note, sildenafil (generic Viagra) is now sold over-the-counter in Mexico for just 30 pesos a pill (compared to 25 dollars each in the States). This may cause an increase in female headaches.

James J. Horn, Ph.D., is Associate Professor Emeritus, History, at the State University of New York College at Brockport where he coordinated the Study-Abroad program in Cuernavaca for 25 years. After retirement he led  150 tour groups to twenty destinations in eight countries as president (now retired) of Educational Travel Service, Inc.He is the author of Cuernavaca, A Guide for Students & Tourists, electronic edition 2013, available from  http://www.amazon.com.