An unexpected emergency landed my spouse in the hospital during our annual visit to PV. Having never sought care in foreign land before, we were both leery. We brought our Spanish-speaking friend along as we had no idea what to expect when we got there. Thankfully, the receptionist and doctor on duty both spoke English well. I felt more at ease, but my spouse on the other hand was a nervous wreck.
EMERGENCY ROOM:
I was expecting a room full of sad cases like back home but it was completely the opposite. Maybe it was a slow night but no one was waiting. After registering, the doctor came out immediately and started triage. Long story short, my spouse had to be admitted. Because of that, we had to pay up front 50,000 pesos ($2,656 USD) for the hospital billing and 30,000 pesos ($1,593 USD) for the doctor's billing. Getting into a room took as long as it did back home which was around two hours.
THE HOSPITAL:
This location is one of three CMQ Hospitals within the PV area. It has just seven patient rooms, all private, with shower, toilet, TV with a few English language channels, strong Wi-Fi, and good-sized cushioned benches for one person to sleep on, which I did for three nights. Other services they provide are labs, CT and Xray, though my spouse got transported to another CMQ Hospital further north for a CT scan with contrast. Everything that I could see was clean and modern, sans for a fraying nurse call button and their ancient-looking blood pressure machine. The shower's water never got beyond a mild lukewarm. Because our vacation was officially over, I had no where to sleep. Thankfully the hospital allowed one person to stay with the patient, which was me! It's not a bad place to be stuck either as the hotel is surrounded with the restaurants and bars we frequent while on vacay.
FOOD & BEVERAGE:
Your only in-house option is a coffee shop in the lobby that serves Starbucks coffee and sandwiches.
SERVICE:
All of the nurses were terrific. Only a few of them couldn't speak English but that's what Google Translate is for!
Major props to Dr. Camacho who took excellent care of my spouse. He was in constant communication with us via phone and in-person, very straight-forward with excellent bedside manners. Why couldn't we take him home with us?!
The only issue we had was with the reception desk and collecting of more payment. Because his stay was extended due to symptoms, the hospital needed more money. They like to do holds on your credit card rather than paying one time at the end. My spouse asked repeatedly for a printed statement to list what we had paid for already which never came. The hospital was getting nervous so one of the receptionists came to the room in-person. She couldn't speak a word of English with made things very difficult for both sides. My spouse ended up walking down to the desk in person to ask for a printed statement in which she couldn't do, and just gave us an amount written on scratch paper. I don't think so! We finally got the English-speaking gal who originally checked us in and she explained that she got approval from a higher-up to print us a statement. Thank you! That's all we wanted. Communication between day and night staff was subpar. Things promised at night weren't delivered during the day such as English-printed receipts and a quick check out.
OVERALL:
After a six night stay, tests, labs, poking and prodding, we had to front a little over $8,000 USD; a deal compared to what the greedy insurance companies in the US would charge. It's also nice knowing that this level of care is available in the area. If it weren't for the hiccups with the reception desk and payment, this would've been a 5-star experience. read more