Healthcare

 Find top rated heatlthcare in Puebla, Mexico. Whether traveling through Puebla, or living here, emergencies do happen. Finding a good doctor at the last minute for your needs can be difficult. Our guide of recommended doctors is extensive and based on years of experience by our editors.

There are three levels of healthcare in Mexico.  Cheap, Free, and Not Cheap.  Does Mexico have healthcare insurance?  Yes.  There are several government programs that offer healthcare.  One is the Isstep or Isste.  A lot of people will look for jobs that provide insurance with Isste.  If a person is covered through Isste, they can also apply to have their parents, siblings, and dependents to be covered as well.  Up till recently, this was the only way to have healthcare coverage through the government.  A new program has just been started called Seguro Popular.  In this program, people who wish to apply are placed in one of ten economic categories and will pay an annual fee based on their category to be able to go the same hospitals and have the same healthcare through Isste.  This would be considered the free healthcare system in Mexico.  The healthcare services can only be provided at the specific hospitals and doctors.  Having the free health coverage is very good for emergencies or to provide a backup plan for that unexpected major surjury.  
 
The second level of car would be considered the cheap level.  For those without any healthcare coverage, they can go to the General Hospital of Puebla or the Hospital del Nino Poblano ... Puebla's Children Hospital.... for very little.  Puebla's Children Hospital is the only hospital for all of southern Mexico that has all the equipment needed for major medical emergencies and operations.  For that reason, many people come from as far as Chiapas for surjuries and other medical emergencies.  Some are even flown in via helicopter.  When we say that the cost is cheap.... we mean cheap.  When our daughter was a little over a year she contracted Rotavirus.  Now, all of our children have had rotavirus and usually we can treat them at home by watching carefully and giving them a lot of fluid.  In less than two hours our daughter became so dehydrated that she looked literally like a child starving in Africa.  We called our private care pediatrician and asked what to do.  During the days he happens to work at Puebla's Children Hospital so he said to just bring her in there.  When we saw the doctor she was so dehydrated that he did not give us the option of taking her to a private hospital.... he immediately admitted her and gave her an IV.  We were there for about 12 hours.  For the twelve hours we were there, we were in an open type of room that was connected to the nurse's station room.  There were four other patients in the small room and children with high fevers were constantly being brought in to be bathed in the sink area specifically designed for that purpose.  Every time a child was brought in to be bathed they would start screaming because of the cold water.  Also, only one of us was allowed to be with our daughter for any length of time... due to the high amount of people already crowding in the room... plus the constant flow of doctor's and nurses going through our room to get to the nurse's station... well we decided to have her transferred to a private hospital so she could get some sleep.  Well, the total bill for the twelve hours was around $20 including doctor's fees, medicine, and bed.  Could we have stayed there and our daughter gotten well.... of course.  Would we recommend this hospital to others?  Of course.  As was stated before, our private pediatrician that charges about $50 per office visit.... an exorbitant amount for Mexico.... works there and was treating our daughter.  The doctor's are excellent, the nurses's compassionate, and the hospital has all the equipment needed.  This leads us to the private healthcare services in Mexico.

There are three levels of private healthcare in Puebla as well.  Private healthcare means that you find your own doctor for your particular needs and go to the private clinics or hospitals that your doctor recommends.  The three types of hospitals are the clinics, the regular private hospitals such as the Benefecencia Espanola and Hospital La Paz, and then there are the expensive options such as Star Medica.  Star Medica hospitals would be the closest to hospitals in the states.  They are the top level of healthcare available in Puebla and Mexico.  The hospitals such as the Benefecencia would be similar to what hospitals in the states were like 25 years ago.  The clinics are smaller hospital like centers that provide basic services but do not have all the medical equipment needed for major surjuries.  For the mid level healthcare for private hospitals, one can expect to pay about $200 per night plus doctor's expenses.  After we transferred our daughter to a mid level private hospital, she ended up staying three nights.  We paid $600 plus another $200 for the doctor's bills.  This was not cheap but we had a private room with couch and cot for both parents.  There was also a private bathroom, tv, and breakfast area.  As the hospital has an onsight restaurant, we were able to order food to our room as well.  The nurse's were nice and most importantly, our daughter had the peace and quiet she needed to get well faster.  At Puebla's Children Hospital, one doctor came in and tried to discharge our daughter.  If he had been successful then we would have ended up right back at the hospital a few hours later.  Fortunately our doctor came and countermanded the discharge notice.  Ambulances are also not very expensive.  To transfer our daughter from one hospital to the other it was about $30.