(Panama Gringo) When traveling to or deciding to call yourself an expat in a foreign country, the quality of hospitals can be very important. As Central America is considered to be a third-world region of the world it could be easy to assume the hospitals are on the same level of quality. From my experience as an expat in Panama City, I can tell you that this is not the case in Panama. Due to an influx of older retirees from the United States, Panama has created a hospital standard that is easily comparable to any first world country. Panama prides themselves on their quality of hospitals and a number of them are even affiliated with hospitals back in the US. As there are a number of threatening diseases in Panama such as dengue fever, malaria and yellow fever it is important to know that adequate care is available in the unlikely event of contracting one of these rare diseases. After a scary bout of extreme dehydration coming from a bad case of food poisoning, this gringo needed to visit one of the hospitals in the city. I chose to visit
l in the affluent neighborhood of Paitilla, because I wanted the best care available. During my visit to the ER I found the facility to be very clean and comfortable with adequate staff to help patients. It was not difficult to find staff that spoke English and the hospital seemed experienced in dealing with foreigners. A large pharmacy was located in the facility that seemed to be adequately supplied with all the necessary drugs. Another bonus for new expats or visitors to Panama is that the country provides FREE health insurance to visitors for the first 30 days of their stay. This is a rare and awesome benefit from a country that’s trying to grow their tourism sector. For more information on the best Panama hospitals please inquire with the Gringo