Are the doctors in Belize good?

I have found extremely good doctors in Belize. It is just like going anywhere in the world. If you have good referrals as far as medical, you can find substantially good doctors here in Belize. We have an incredible Cuban doctor here in Belize, who is an incredible diagnostician. There is just one doctor on the island who is just fantastic. If you come to Belize and you do not have any extreme medical conditions, you are in good hands.

 

When I first came to...

I have found extremely good doctors in Belize. It is just like going anywhere in the world. If you have good referrals as far as medical, you can find substantially good doctors here in Belize. We have an incredible Cuban doctor here in Belize, who is an incredible diagnostician. There is just one doctor on the island who is just fantastic. If you come to Belize and you do not have any extreme medical conditions, you are in good hands.

 

When I first came to Belize twelve years ago, I had two children with me, so I needed to make sure that we could get medical care. I came from a family of doctors, so I know that to get personalized service and a very good physician is not always easy no matter where you are. I was actually taken aback and so pleasantly surprised that a doctor would actually come to my house here in Belize, if I needed him to come to. I could actually get doctors who knew what they were doing as far as tropical weather and different things you would look for here.

 

Many of the doctors here in Belize are trained in Merida, Mexico, Cuba, or in Guatemala. They are very highly trained doctors. We had a client who flew in looking at properties, but she told me that she had a problem with her stomach. She shared with me some of the tests that she had, and I said, “Without being out of line, I’d like for you to come with me across the street and meet my Cuban friend who is the doctor here.” So she went.

 

The Cuban doctor here is a very good diagnostician. A lot of the doctors here well trained because we cannot just run a million medical tests. They need to rely on palpitations and different kinds of tests. The Cuban doctor tested her, and said, “I need you to go and get this x-ray and I need for you to bring it back to me.”

 

She went and paid $20. She got her x-ray and brought it back and the Cuban doctor explained to her what she had, told her what she needed to do, and gave her a referral for the doctor that she needed to see. My client was scheduled for surgery less than a week later. She changed her flight and extended her trip and has completely taken care of her problem. That was after she spent countless months in the US looking for help. She spent countless amounts of money on insurance claims in the US.

 

So when I say that the doctors and the medical service here in Belize is good, it surprises me. I love it!

As a person who enjoys abundant good health, my experience with Belize doctors comes by way of a friend and one particular doctor in San Ignacio, where we lived some ten years ago.  My friend was stricken by sciatica, a condition previously unknown to him, which reached a critical state when he could not escape its menacing pain regardless of his being seated, supine or standing.  A car trip to the doctor was unthinkable and would have neared cruelty.

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As a person who enjoys abundant good health, my experience with Belize doctors comes by way of a friend and one particular doctor in San Ignacio, where we lived some ten years ago.  My friend was stricken by sciatica, a condition previously unknown to him, which reached a critical state when he could not escape its menacing pain regardless of his being seated, supine or standing.  A car trip to the doctor was unthinkable and would have neared cruelty.

Amazingly, the doctor came to the house.  Imagine that!  Nope, this was NOT something out-of-the-normal, at least in San Ignacio (pictured above).  As well, the Cuban-trained doctor was as professional as any I had encountered in the States.

Belize, not having a medical school, imports its doctors, another normalcy there.  This is by no means to discredit the qualifications of these professionals.  A bias against a doctor without a degree from an American institution is a hurdle not a few transplanted Americans grapple with.  Our experience with San Ignacio’s Cuban doctor quickly disabused us of any second thoughts.

The sciatic condition was diagnosed and the manner of treatment was outlined, noting the contingency of the treatment based on the highly addictive drugs needed.  Eventually the scurrilous sciatica succumbed.

Belize treatment facilities are not quite equal to those in United States, so the doctors often are left to diagnose a condition based on actually listening to their patient.  Not to be alarmed.  This was once the happy ways of a doctor's good bedside manner in the U.S., before expensive diagnostic procedures, not infrequently predicated on avoiding a lawsuit.

To be sure, there are tests available in Belize, and happily not without the blow of high cost that attends so many similar tests in the States.

When it comes to hospitals, there were two in San Ignacio.  The little one in town looked more like a MASH unit.  The other, a Seven-Day-Adventist hospital in the adjoining town of Santa Elena, just across the Macal River, would have been the one of choice if needed.

In Florida, the Seven-Day-Adventist hospitals come highly rated.  Their reputation did not quite carry into their Belize counterpart, which I would guess to be on par with a 1970’s American hospital.  Thus, any shortcomings resided not so much in the doctors as in the facility in which they practice.

Similar to the U.S., I think it right to say that one should seek a doctor in Belize’s larger cities, namely Belize City, Belmopan, and San Ignacio.

All in all, finding a good doctor in Belize is not an impossibility.  Finding a specialist probably would add a wrinkle to this estimation.  Thus, for the more complicated, extreme situations, a trip back to the States would most likely be best.  Lastly, for those of a more experimental nature, alternate, natural healing for lesser maladies is certainly available in such an exotic country as Belize.

The doctors in Belize are decent. After my four-wheeler accident in Corozal when I smashed my leg and my foot essentially caught on fire, I had extensive burns on my foot. They took me to the emergency room of the public hospital in Corozal and I was there for a week. Because it is a public hospital, I did not have to pay anything.

I have a scar to prove it. I don’t know if I would have had a lesser scar had I gone to the US with the same injuries. However, with the...

The doctors in Belize are decent. After my four-wheeler accident in Corozal when I smashed my leg and my foot essentially caught on fire, I had extensive burns on my foot. They took me to the emergency room of the public hospital in Corozal and I was there for a week. Because it is a public hospital, I did not have to pay anything.

I have a scar to prove it. I don’t know if I would have had a lesser scar had I gone to the US with the same injuries. However, with the extent of my injuries and the issues that arose from those injuries, I felt like I received the treatment that I needed.  I was never concerned for my life or dying because of the treatment here in Belize. If I needed more urgent medical care or if I didn’t feel that what I was receiving was satisfactory, Chetumal (in Mexico) is seven miles away and I could have gone to a state of the art hospital there.

I went to the United States after the month of medical treatment for my injuries in Belize. I went to a US hospital just to have things re-evaluated and see if there was anything different that would have been done.  The US doctors told me that the care I got was what they would have done. That one visit in the US cost me US $800.  The cost for the entire treatment in Belize for the entire time I was there was zero.

You would probably find more US-based doctors in the cayes, but I’m not sure. I’m not familiar with medical care outside of Corozal because I did not have to go to a hospital aside from the one in Corozal.

While I was in the hospital in Corozal, I realized that it was also a teaching hospital. Every morning, ten British doctors who are doing their internship to get their hours towards getting their license, woke me up. I was receiving care from doctors who worked in Belize and medical students from all over Britain. There are also two American students there. There are private doctors, but not private hospitals in Corozal.

Traditionally, the Belizeans who could afford it would go to Guatemala, Mexico, or to Cuba for more serious health issues, but in the last 10 years, Belize has caught up a lot here and a lot of people stay here now. 

 

There are a lot of local doctors in Belize. My neurosurgeon is a Belizean and he tells me that he does things they can’t don’t do in America yet. 

 

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Traditionally, the Belizeans who could afford it would go to Guatemala, Mexico, or to Cuba for more serious health issues, but in the last 10 years, Belize has caught up a lot here and a lot of people stay here now. 

 

There are a lot of local doctors in Belize. My neurosurgeon is a Belizean and he tells me that he does things they can’t don’t do in America yet. 

 

We also have a lot of Cuban doctors here in Belize. That is why a lot of people aren’t going abroad anymore because the government brings and employs Cubans and other international doctors, so there is no reason to go out anymore.  

 

Cuban doctors are regarded worldwide as good doctors. They have a very good health system in Cuba. 

 

A lot of the doctors here in Belize were trained in America. Some practice in America as well. American doctors come here and work with our doctors in Belize. So I am very comfortable with the health care here, even though I don’t have any private health insurance. Health insurance is very expensive here but it is also expensive in America. 

 

If you’re interested in buying private health insurance here in Belize, I believe it is available here up to the age of 65. 

 

(Pictured: pediatricians at the Belize Medical Associates.)

In my opinion, health care is very adequate in Belize in general. However, if someone is looking for medical care similar to what you would get in the States, 15 miles from Corozal (where I live), you are in a first care medical provider country, which is Mexico. If you experience a medical emergency situation, they don’t even stop you at the border. 

 

In Corozal, we travel 14 miles and you are in a country that is a first care medical provider....

In my opinion, health care is very adequate in Belize in general. However, if someone is looking for medical care similar to what you would get in the States, 15 miles from Corozal (where I live), you are in a first care medical provider country, which is Mexico. If you experience a medical emergency situation, they don’t even stop you at the border. 

 

In Corozal, we travel 14 miles and you are in a country that is a first care medical provider. In Chetumal, Mexico (the city just across the border with Corozol), there are several excellent clinics and four hospitals. I had my husband over for a follow up CAT Scan in Chetumal after his hospitalization and my cost for the CAT Scan was 900 pesos. If you convert that to the current exchange rate, ti comes to about US $64.

 

(Pictured: CAT scan machine.)

There are decent doctors in Belize and they can take care of you if you go to the right hospital, but it's not like in the US. Personally, I would only go to a doctor in Belize for minor injuries such as cuts and bruises, if I needed a couple of stitches or for chest X-rays for minor injuries or tests.  I wouldn’t go to the doctors in Belize for something major because I don't think that the doctors in Belize are up to the quality of the doctors in the US. 

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There are decent doctors in Belize and they can take care of you if you go to the right hospital, but it's not like in the US. Personally, I would only go to a doctor in Belize for minor injuries such as cuts and bruises, if I needed a couple of stitches or for chest X-rays for minor injuries or tests.  I wouldn’t go to the doctors in Belize for something major because I don't think that the doctors in Belize are up to the quality of the doctors in the US. 

 

The Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Belize has decent doctors. But for something serious or life-threatening, a lot of people go to the major cities nearby.  They go to Mexico, Guatemala, or Panama because it's relatively close to Belize and all of the doctors in Panama, as an examkple, are US-trained. They're really good and it's very cheap. 

 

I don't think that I'm putting my life at risk by living in a place like Belize with this kind of healthcare. In case of medical emergencies, I have given specific instructions to my wife to call an air ambulance and get me to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami because it's the number one trauma center in the world. It may sound expensive but you save money on a lot of other things in Belize; put some money away for a medical emergency in case you have to be flown out.

 

(On the dock at Hopkins, Belize, pictured.)