A recent message looked at the Cotacachi hospital and health services and showed how all of the care is free to all who show up including non-Ecuadorians.
The ambulance service is also free including transfer to other hospitals or clinics, even as far away as Quito (75 miles).
They offer fast response.
The ambulances are fully equipped.
Until tomorrow’s message may your need for ambulances never be dire.
Gary
Join us in Cotacachi.
Here is what others say about being here.
Gary and Merri, Nick took this picture of Ma during the real estate tour that we were on, and I just love it. Thought you might like to have it. Again, THANK YOU so much for your kindness in allowing me to stay here. It’s been one of the great pleasures of my life to get to know you two (and Ma!).
Cotacachi Ecuador hospital and health services are complete. Many are free!
There is a small hospital, certainly good for emergencies. Founded in 1977 it is similar to those in other small Ecuador populations.
The Cotacachi hospital has a pride that everyone attached to the hospital feels. Their mission statement is “To convert Cotacachi into a healthy county in which the multi-ethnic peoples live in social, spiritual, material and environmental harmony exercising shared rights and responsibilities in a participative democracy applying principles and values of equality and solidarity prioritizing the promotion of health with universal access to health services of warmth and quality using both western and traditional knowledge and practices.”
The Head of Cotacachi hospital is Doctor Oscar Castillo.
Cotacachi hospital is funded by the Ministry of Health based in Quito and as such ALL services are free.
This surprises many but so do the care and standards of Cotacachi’s hospital and health services.
There are doctors providing consultations to the local citizens, a specialist children’s doctor. Services include vaccinations, pregnancy care and general medical practice.
There are four emergency doctors who treat burns and injuries from accidents and also an operating theater with a general surgeon.
Staff nurses are ready to attend the patients in the wards, separated into those for men, women and children.
Operations performed at the Cotacachi hospital include appendectomies, hysterectomies, removal of the gall bladder and treating hernias. All of these are free to all who show up including non-Ecuadorians.
There is a dental center, again offering free dental attention.
There is also a testing laboratory that run tests on blood, urine and feces to test for cholesterol and psa levels or even parasites…
Cotacachi hospital does not treat broken bones nor patients who’ve suffered a heart attack or stroke. These patients are rushed by ambulance to city hospitals or clinics in nearby Ibarra. Or they are brought to Cotacachi hospital to be stabilized before being transferred to other clinics.
One delegate at our hotel had a heart attack one night. He was whisked there and stabilized. He was then taken to Ibarra hospital and finally Metropolitan in Quito before heading back to the US.
Later he had a second attack in Atlanta. His comment was that he was headed back here because if he had a third attack he wanted to be in Ecuador. He stated that not only was the difference in cost incredible (no $27 a roll toilet paper here, he said), but the caring nature of the Ecuadorians made him feel really looked after.
Repeatedly we have had guests tell us they visited a doctor and that the doctor then drove 45 minutes to just stop by and see how the guest was doing… no extra charge.
International investing and business have proven themselves over the past 40 years to be profitable. And even more than the profits are the broadened horizons, fulfillment and fun!
One reason for this is that those who live a fulfilled, involved fun existence are likely to be healthier…with less need for expensive pharmaceuticals and medical treatment.
This makes life better plus can save huge amounts of cash.
This is likely to become even more important in the years ahead for those who live in much of the Western world. Existing medical systems are already filled with problems. Inflation and aging populations will make the problems even worse.
At the turn of the decade, The World Health Organization analyzed the world’s health systems. The WHO used five performance indicators to measure health systems in 191 member states.
The five performance indicators were:
* Fairness of financial contribution. While private health expenses in industrial countries now average only some 25 percent because of universal health coverage (except in the United States, where it is 56%), in India, families typically pay 80 percent of their health care costs as “out-of- pocket” expenses when they receive health care.
* Overall Level of Health.
* Distribution of Health in the Populations: the average level – goodness – and the smallest feasible differences among individuals and groups – fairness.
* Responsiveness: respect for persons including dignity, confidentiality and autonomy of individuals and families to decide about their own health as well as prompt attention and access to social support networks during care, quality of basic amenities and choice of provider.
* Distribution of Financing.
The study revealed that U. S. health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries. The United Kingdom, which spends just six percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on health services, ranks 18th. Several small countries – San Marino, Andorra, Malta and Singapore are rated close behind second- placed Italy.
Here is the WHO ranking.
1 France 2 Italy 3 San Marino 4 Andorra 5 Malta 6 Singapore 7 Spain 8 Oman 9 Austria 10 Japan 11 Norway 12 Portugal 13 Monaco 14 Greece 15 Iceland 16 Luxembourg 17 Netherlands 18 United Kingdom 19 Ireland 20 Switzerland 21 Belgium 22 Colombia 23 Sweden 24 Cyprus 25 Germany 26 Saudi Arabia 27 United Arab Emirates 28 Israel 29 Morocco 30 Canada 31 Finland 32 Australia 33 Chile 34 Denmark 35 Dominica 36 Costa Rica 37 United States of America 38 Slovenia 39 Cuba
Most of the readership of this site live in countries where the medical system is not even in the top 15 countries!
This means that many of us, (especially us boomers now in our 60s), may want to rely on a good lifestyle to keep our health…not the medical system.
The cost of this medical system is another reason we want to have independence rather than reliance on government funded programs. We’ll see why next message.
Until then, may your international investing and business be good…and fun!
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