Health and Medical Care in Ecuador

So I put off by a few months my latest teeth cleaning as I wanted to see what it was like in Ecuador. By luck of timing, I also needed a specialist follow up with an opthalmologist, DJ needed a Pediatrician and an Optometrist/glasses, and I also needed a dermatologist.  We also ended up needing multiple prescriptions.  

Luckily, all went well. I got a suggestion from an expat group here for a "pricier" dentist highly recommended so I forked over a whopping $25 to get an exam and cleaning. Their office was in a modern high rise near Carolina Park. I arrived 5 mins before my appointment and was immediately whisked in to a super moden, super clean exam room with a view of the park while she did the cleaning. And yes, using the modern water blasting tools and not those horrid needle like diggers/scrapers.  Of course she did try to sell me some teeth whitening sessions, but I played off the "no habla espanol" and got in and out within a half hour.  Score.

For the specialists/medical, again relying on the advice of other expats, we chose Veris, which is a medical org here with multiple locations. They had one a couple blocks off a metro stop just one past our usual stop at Carolina park for eating out, movies, and shopping.  The appointments for the dermatologist, the pediatrician, and the opthalmologist were between $35 - $40 each. Every time, we got in right at our scheduled appointment time, with the exception of waiting 5 mins. for DJ's pediatrician appointment due to the previous patient being late for their appointment.

The Veris offices are also super modern, super clean, all the latest technology, etc.  We each got multiple prescriptions that were between $2 - $10 each. None of the doctors spoke fluent English (altho my opthalmologist was close), so we used Google translate. Finally, the optometrist was the most pricey, but even then it was just under $180 for the exam, frames, and lenses with UV and blue light protection/coating. We could have paid about $20 less for different frames, but I let him "splurge" a bit for the holidays. lol  Obviously, these costs would be lower/disappear if I elected to move here and got insurance.

I really have nothing negative to say about our experiences, and in fact I was VERY happy about the lack of wait time. Whenever I scheduled an appointment, we could get in within a few days, and as mentioned above, ZERO wait time beyond our scheduled appointment times - it drove me INSANE to get to my doctor's appt. in the states at the appointed time and then wait. And wait. And wait. More than once, I left doctor's offices in a huff, telling them my time was just as important as theirs and I would need to reschedule.

In other health news, I've lost nearly 20 pounds since leaving the states not quite 8 months ago. This wasn't necessarily by design, it's just a result of eating less junk, drinking less soda, and walking more.  I did a little research and from a UN site found the following interesting comparisons--Ecuador is on the left and the US on the right:

Skill and competency of medical staff		Very High 81.17		High 72.22
Speed in completing examinations and reports		High 78.44		High 69.85
Equipment for modern diagnosis and treatment		High 79.10		Very High 84.27
Accuracy and completeness in filling out reports		High 77.71		High 72.72
Friendliness and courtesy of the staff		Very High 81.08		High 73.42
Responsiveness (waitings) in medical institutions		High 72.80		Moderate 58.66
Satisfaction with Cost to you		High 73.28		Moderate 46.60
Convenience of location for you		Very High 82.67		High 78.49
In terms of the overall health care index, when comparing the U.S., UK, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, China, and Russia, Ecuador was tied with Japan for highest score (the US only beat Russia and Italy).