Ecuador Real Estate: Cotacachi, San
Clemente, and Mindo,Ecuador
Ecuador Health Care
by Robert “Mark” Young
ECUADORREAL ESTATE
One of the most important
issues we have when considering a move to another country is health care and the quality thereof.
When consideringEcuadorwe have already resolved other issues such as cost of living, government
stability, cultural tolerance, etc. The health care industry inEcuadoris state-of-the-art. With doctors
versed on all the latest procedures (including cutting edge procedures introduced
fromEurope). This applies to physicians and
dentists.
I would like to relate a true
life incident that occurred on our latest visit toEcuadorin September 2008. I was joining my
wife who had been inEcuadora few weeks overseeing our Ecuador Real Estate projects. I arrived for a week
accompanied by a friend of ours who will retire soon and was consideringEcuadorfor a retirement country. It was his
first visit to the country. After spending the first night inQuito, we stayed at a friend’s place in the
community of San Miguel in Cotacachi. The following evening my wife went to bed early complaining of
nausea and upset stomach. She had been going full speed every day when I arrived and I assumed it
had all caught up with her. By around11pmshe was very sick running a temperature of 102 with chills and
extreme nausea. Our friend called a local Dr. Ibarra at home just as he was going to bed. He came
out to the house (are any of you old enough to remember “house calls” in theU.S.?), and did a thorough examination. He
then adminstered an injection that brought her fever to normal after 15 minutes. The nausea and
chills also subsided. He then made a trip to his office for antibiotics and other meds and
returned a second time with medication instructions. All this special treatment cost $40U.S.He was very courteous and
kind despite us rousing him from bed. This is typical of our experiences with medical services in
the country. Most of the physicians are trained in theU.S.minus the bedside manner instilled in
most doctors here.
The following evening guess what happened.
Our friend came down with the same symptoms. He is a very healthy 55 year old marathon runner who
never gets ill. This occurred in the middle of the night aroundmidnight. We called the same doctor who again
came out (repeat of last night). Had him feeling right as rain in no time. I joked with the doctor
that I wouldn’t be calling him late tomorrow (fingers crossed). Again a $40 charge for all this
special care. My point is that health care here is 21st century but administered with the friendly bedside manners of the
1950’s. Back when the family doctor was a “part of the family”. We can put a big positive checkmark
next to affordable quality available health care on our list of whyEcuadoris a great choice of
residency.
Check
out our Ecuador Real Estate developments at www.ecuadorrealestatesales.com. Come join us on one of our upcoming
Ecuador Real Estate tours.
