Where To Get Quality Health Care In Panama City, Panama
Hospital Punta Pacifica in Panama City
Panama is famous for a lot of things but many people don’t realize just how great health care is in Panama. Panama has two health care systems – public and private. The public institutions are run by the Caja de Seguro Social (Social Security System). Working Panamanians have a set amount deducted from their paycheck, in return they receive free health care and prescription medication from hospitals and clinics within the Social Security System.
The health care is good in the public system, but foreigners and Panamanians with extra money usually opt for insurance with the private hospitals. The most popular private hospitals in Panama City are:
Hospital Punta Pacifica - the only Johns Hopkins associated hospital in Central America. This hospital is NICE! Located in Punta Pacifica, this is probably the most expensive in Panama, but if you have the money (or private insurance) it’s a great bet. Most of the doctors practicing here speak English. Walking through this hospital you get the feeling that you are in an upper end hotel as opposed to a hospital.
Clinica Hospital San Fernando- Located on Via Espana in Panama City, San Fernando hospital is another great choice for health care. The rooms are clean and nice and the staff is very friendly. San Fernando Hospital is affiliated with the Miami Children’s Hospital, Tulane University and Miami’s Baptist Health Center. This was Panama’s first private hospital and has a great track record and state of the art technology. San Fernando is also about to open a clinic in Coronado, a tourism and vacation hot spot on Panama’s Pacific Coast. You can easily find English speaking doctors in both locations.
Hospital Nacional- Hospital Nacional began as primarily a women’s hospital more than 35 years ago. It is now an 80 bed facility with more than 100 specialists working out of it. At Hospital Nacional, the nurse to patient ratio is one nurse to 10 patients. The hospital is located in Bella Vista on Ave Cuba. Hospital Nacional accepts international health care plans as well as ambulatory and emergency care for US veterans.
Centro Medico Paitilla - Located in Punta Paitilla, this is one of Panama’s oldest private hospitals and a favourite among wealthy Panamanians. Expect the majority of doctors here to speak English. The hospital is probably best known for it’s state of the art oncology unit. The website for the hospital is under construction, so don’t expect to get too much information from it.
Most larger towns in Panama’s interior provinces also have private and public hospitals, but for the most part are smaller than the ones in Panama City and it can be difficult to find a doctor that speaks English.
| Written by Rebecca Tyre |  |
This post's rating:
(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
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Filed under: Country Guide, News, Reviews on July 8th, 2008
I am trying to do some research on clinical laboratories in Panama. Do you have any idea of where I can get quantitative data about disciplines, requests / day, instrumets, etc ??
La persona que va a vivir a Panama como pensionado, ?puede usar el sistema publico de salud de Panama? Puede pagar a la caja de seguro social para poder tener los beneficios de salud publica.?
My Wife & I are each experienced, RN’s with many years experience, WE plan to relocate to Beautiful Panama, from the US. very soon……………. Please reply w/ any potential nursing positions ,which you might be aware of, so thay we may forward our resumes. Thank you so much & My Very Best Regards, JEFF ESTOPARE RN
Nice short article and precise information Rebecca. I am a panamanian living in the US. Although I live in Baltimore. (Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland Medical System are both based in here, I find healthcare outrageously expensive compared to Panama. I understand the billions of dollars that it takes to fund such huge institutions and keep such reputations both I just find it hard to justify.
For Ricardo Nunez. You can find the information you are looking for at the Hospital Santo Tomas and the Headquarters of the Ministry of Health and the Social Security Administration. They are the ones in charge of keeping track of Medical data.
For Laura. You can always pay voluntarily for being covered by the public health system. The monthly fee is minimal if you are a retired person. You need to notice that there’s the Pensionado visa which is a migratory standard and the “jubilado o pensionado” status which relates to your SS status and benefits in PTY.
For Jeff. If you have had years of experience on your field your will definitely will have an opportunity in the work market in Panama. I don’t know many details about the status that you have and if you are eligible for a work authorization. Private Healthcare is a growing market in Panama. You can go to mastrabajo.com and other Panama based job search engines.
For ALL. PLEASE LEARN Some Spanish. Even if educated people in Panama speak and understand English at some level, speaking spanish will open numerous doors.
Best Regards