How good are the medical centers, hospitals, and health clinics in Coronado, Panama and how close are they?
ellie wharton
Coronado, Panama is home to a modern medical center named San Fernando Clinic. It is located on the main road leading to the Playa Coronado community. There you will find doctors, a dentist, pharmacy, emergency room and x-ray equipment. The clinic is open 7 days/week and on the weekends it provides 24-hour service. Most of the doctors speak very good English and for routine cases you can just walk in for treatment. Appointments are also accepted in case you need to see...
Coronado, Panama is home to a modern medical center named San Fernando Clinic. It is located on the main road leading to the Playa Coronado community. There you will find doctors, a dentist, pharmacy, emergency room and x-ray equipment. The clinic is open 7 days/week and on the weekends it provides 24-hour service. Most of the doctors speak very good English and for routine cases you can just walk in for treatment. Appointments are also accepted in case you need to see a specialist. Located in the Super 99 mall in Coronado you will also find a dental clinic on the second level.
The closest hospital is located in a town called San Carlos about 15 minutes from Coronado. It is a national hospital and can be used if the SF Clinic is not open. When seeking medical attention be sure to ask for your "descuento" (discount) which can save you up to 20% on your medical and pharmaceutical needs. It's simple - Ask, get. Don't ask, don't say I didn't inform you.
Posted April 1, 2013
MANUEL GRANADOS - MEDICAL SERVICE PANAMA, S.A. (MS PANAMA, S.A.)
I recommend the San Fernando Hospital (in the Coronado, Panama area), which is the first hospital in Panama to obtain the accreditation in security and quality matters by the Joint Commission International, which has facilitates in Panama City and Coronado.
I recommend the San Fernando Hospital (in the Coronado, Panama area), which is the first hospital in Panama to obtain the accreditation in security and quality matters by the Joint Commission International, which has facilitates in Panama City and Coronado.
Posted March 21, 2014
Marla Diaz
There is a local, state-of-the-art clinic here in Coronado, Panama called San Fernando Clinic. San Fernando Clinic is an offshoot of San Fernando Hospital in Panama City. They’re not open 24 hours, but they do have extended hours, early in the morning into the evening, and they do have an emergency room. I have found that every time we’ve used that clinic, all the doctors have spoken perfect English and they’ve always been very...
There is a local, state-of-the-art clinic here in Coronado, Panama called San Fernando Clinic. San Fernando Clinic is an offshoot of San Fernando Hospital in Panama City. They’re not open 24 hours, but they do have extended hours, early in the morning into the evening, and they do have an emergency room. I have found that every time we’ve used that clinic, all the doctors have spoken perfect English and they’ve always been very helpful. In my experience with San Fernando Clinic, even the receptionists speak English.
(On a personal note, yes, I’m eager to learn Spanish, but when it comes to medical and emergency issues, I want to speak English, because I know I can get my point across.)
There’s a particular doctor who I’ve never seen but who all the expats swear by called Dr. Levy. I haven’t been to him, but my husband has and he said Dr. Levy was really good. From our (thankfully, limited) personal experience and from what I’ve heard from others, the physicians in the San Fernando Clinic are up to American standards.
On a rotating basis San Fernando Clinic here in Coronado will hold office hours for specialists from their main hospital in Panama City. For example, an orthopedic surgeon may come in once a week to and have an office day at the Coronado San Fernando Clinic, or an ophthalmologist or cardiologist may come in from the city and have office hours once a week here in Coronado. As a result, you’re not just limited to the more general physicians normally at the San Fernando Clinic in Coronado; you have periodic access to the specialists from Panama City. You can get a regular checkup from a cardiologist, an ophthalmologist, etc., just on certain days.
We’ve been to the San Fernando Clinic in Coronado more often than I’d want to. My husband Roberto went there after our car accident last year. We got great service then. We’ve been there with our kids when they’ve been sick. We’ve been able to get blood tests and lab tests needed for other work done in Panama City. I have only good things to say about San Fernando Clinic.
San Fernando Clinic is not a “hospital” in that they don’t have beds for overnight stays, etc. If you need more extensive care than they can provide, they will stabilize you and take you to the city, in an ambulance, if necessary. Panama City is about an hour away by car. This happened to my neighbor, who was in an accident that was more serious than the one my husband was in. After the accident, they realized they needed to watch her overnight, which they can’t do in the clinic here in Coronado, so they put her in an ambulance and transported her an hour away to Panama City.
There is a hospital in the Coronado, Panama area, in San Carlos. The San Carlos Hospital is seven minutes by car from the center of Coronado. It’s a public hospital that’s open 24 hours a day, with emergency room care. I’m a little reluctant to offer an opinion of San Carlos Hospital because I don’t know that much about it. I have heard mixed things about it from the expat community. They have Panamanian doctors each one of which may or may not speak English.
The only personal experience we have with Hospital San Carlos was when my husband went to them directly after having his car accident. He didn’t have to pay a penny, because it’s a public hospital, but they told him his knee was fine because he had no broken bones. Meanwhile, he had a torn meniscus and couldn’t walk. He immediately got in a cab and went to San Fernando Clinic, where they diagnosed him properly. Alternatively, I’ve heard from other people who went to San Carlos Hospital who said that they got great care. I would guess that, because it’s a public hospital, its more “hit or miss” as to the care you get, but I don’t know. Anybody in Panama on a retirement visa will have a cedula, which would entitle you to free care at San Carlos Hospital.
Posted August 16, 2014
Corrin Skubin - TRY PANAMA Real Estate
There is state-of-the-art health center in Coronado called San Fernando Clinic. It is a sister clinic of a major hospital in Panama City called San Fernando. The San Fernando Clinic, which is right at the entrance of Coronado, is very good, very well run, and the doctors are excellent. They have North American style facilities and it is open 24 hours. It is right in Coronado, so it is there if you have emergencies. There are also some doctors' clinics in the Coronado area...
There is state-of-the-art health center in Coronado called San Fernando Clinic. It is a sister clinic of a major hospital in Panama City called San Fernando. The San Fernando Clinic, which is right at the entrance of Coronado, is very good, very well run, and the doctors are excellent. They have North American style facilities and it is open 24 hours. It is right in Coronado, so it is there if you have emergencies. There are also some doctors' clinics in the Coronado area that bring in specialist doctors some days of the week. There are also several dentists and a few optical clinics here in Coronado.
If you need a particular specialist that you cannot find in Coronado, you can go to Panama City where they have a broad array of doctors and specialists, most of whom have graduated from top universities in the States. (Panama City is less than an hour and a half away from Coronado.)
There is also a Johns Hopkins Hospital in Panama City. It is very easy to see a doctor within just a few days of making an appointment.
If you need a particular specialist that you cannot find in Coronado, you can go to Panama City where they have a broad array of doctors and specialists, most of whom have graduated from top universities in the States. (Panama City is less than an hour and a half away from Coronado.)
There is also a Johns Hopkins Hospital in Panama City. It is very easy to see a doctor within just a few days of making an appointment.
(Beside equipment at the San Fernando Clinic, Coronado, Panama, picture.)
Posted April 14, 2015
Ricord (Ric) Winstead, MD - Retirement Services International
Coronado, Panama has a branch of one of the largest medical groups, the San Fernando Clinic. This clinic has a wide range of services, including an imaging lab. The people in Coronado call it a hospital but it is not a hospital, although it is affiliated with a big hospital in Panama City.San Fernando Clinic has a wide range of specialists. A lot of them come out from Panama City to see patients for a couple of days during the week rather than being full time staff in...
Coronado, Panama has a branch of one of the largest medical groups, the San Fernando Clinic. This clinic has a wide range of services, including an imaging lab. The people in Coronado call it a hospital but it is not a hospital, although it is affiliated with a big hospital in Panama City.San Fernando Clinic has a wide range of specialists. A lot of them come out from Panama City to see patients for a couple of days during the week rather than being full time staff in Coronado. As an example, I made an appointment with an ophthalmologist to get my eyes checked and we met on a Saturday. The doctors are English speaking, well-trained, and they are part of the major medical centers and hospitals in Panama City. It works really pretty well.
There are no other physicians in the town of Coronado. There are one or two small offices for general practitioners but most of the physicians are in the San Fernando Clinic. There is a bunch of dentists in the malls. They are well-equipped and are perfectly appropriate for people to see.
For any complicated or serious medical situation, people go to Panama City. If you have a medical emergency such as a heart attack or a stroke, you could call the San Fernando Clinic, they would get you, stabilize you, and transport you to Panama City. I am not concerned about this arrangement at all because it works pretty well.
Coronado is a beach town but it is built up more than any of the other beach places in Panama. However, high- end medical care is still concentrated in the much larger metropolitan area of Panama City, which is about 90 minutes away by car. The only other place that has large hospitals in Panama is David in the west, near Boquete. Even then, some of the high end specialists will require you to go to Panama City.
Panama is a country of only 3.5 million people. When I lived in the state of Washington in the US, I worked in a rural county in eastern Washington and that had exactly the same situation for hospitals and doctors as Panama. They have three or four hospitals where I lived but they were only 20-bed rural health hospitals and if there was anything serious that would happen to you, they would medevac you 2 or 3 hours away to a main city. In comparison, Coronado is closer to medical care than you would be if you were in Omak, Washington.
(Pictured: inside the San Fernando Medical Clinic, Coronado, Panama.)
Posted July 19, 2015
Kevin Painter - Azura
The clinic I go to, the San Fernando Medical Clinic, is right in the center of Coronado, Panama, literally 12 minutes away from where I live. The facility in that clinic is as good as any good hospital that I have been to in Sarasota, Florida, where I used to live. The hospital is clean, it’s new, the staff are all in uniforms, and it is what you would expect of a decent hospital anywhere. Most of the staff and doctors in most of the medical centers here do speak English. I have not...The clinic I go to, the San Fernando Medical Clinic, is right in the center of Coronado, Panama, literally 12 minutes away from where I live. The facility in that clinic is as good as any good hospital that I have been to in Sarasota, Florida, where I used to live. The hospital is clean, it’s new, the staff are all in uniforms, and it is what you would expect of a decent hospital anywhere. Most of the staff and doctors in most of the medical centers here do speak English. I have not met a doctor here yet who doesn’t speak English. If you had a heart attack here in Coronado, they would stabilize you at the San Fernando Medical Clinic and take you by ambulance. They definitely have the facilities and they have an MRI unit here now. The facilities at the San Fernando Medical Clinic are better than they are at the local publicly run hospitals, which are more for the working people.
In contrast, San Fernando Medical Clinic has been set up as a private facility. The public hospitals here are run on funding from workers who pay a percentage of their wages. We also had some good experiences at the public hospital here, too. My son hurt his wrist and they took some x-rays at the public hospital here. They kept him in for 2 or 3 hours looking at it and the bill was US $54 for everything. If we went to the San Fernando Clinic, we would probably pay double that amount. In comparison to the hospital in Sarasota, Florida, where we used to live, the last time we were in an emergency, we had a 1,200 bill for a Sunday afternoon.
(The ruins of Palo Seco hospital, Hospital de Palo Seco, built in 1907, overcome by the Panamanian jungle, pictured.)
Posted August 7, 2015
T Rob Brown - Panama Helpline
The Panama Helpline - the community safety group in the beaches area, has just launched a group medical insurance plan in partnership with Dr Victor Levy's office in Coronado and affiliated with the Santa Fe Hospital in Panama City - cancer coverage included, available to all ages including people over 90 years old - very reasonable cost. For more info, go to the Panama Helpline website.
The Panama Helpline - the community safety group in the beaches area, has just launched a group medical insurance plan in partnership with Dr Victor Levy's office in Coronado and affiliated with the Santa Fe Hospital in Panama City - cancer coverage included, available to all ages including people over 90 years old - very reasonable cost. For more info, go to the Panama Helpline website.
Posted June 4, 2016
T Rob Brown - Panama Helpline
The Panama Helpline and the Rotary Club of Playa Coronado have purchased eight (8) automatic defibrillators (AED's) and first aid kits. Two will be mobile through our Medical Transport fleet and six will be installed in public locations for anyone to use. Our coverage area is Chamé to Penonomé including El Valle and Altos Del Maria.
The Panama Helpline and the Rotary Club of Playa Coronado have purchased eight (8) automatic defibrillators (AED's) and first aid kits. Two will be mobile through our Medical Transport fleet and six will be installed in public locations for anyone to use. Our coverage area is Chamé to Penonomé including El Valle and Altos Del Maria.
Posted June 4, 2016