Job Discussion Forums

[Spector]

I've seen a couple of topics on this site about it, but I'm going to ask anyhow about health care in Mexico. I naively assumed that because it's not a first world country, it would be very poor, but from what I've read here and elsewhere, that's not the case.
This is relevant to me because I have this dry-eye type problem (only on my left eye). As ailments go, it's not the most serious, and normally it's fine, but on a couple of occasions, I've had to get treatment for it when it flared up. It could happen again, I suppose, but should I let that get in the way of me trying this teaching thing that I've been looking into for the past few months? I don't want it to, so that's why I'm asking the following (fairly tricky)question: how difficult and expensive would it be for a foreigner to get medical treatment for something not critical (ie: broken leg). Would the fact I'm not Mexican be a barrier, apart from the language?

[amaranto]

I have a friend (Mexican) who has a similar problem. She had surgery as a child, and now she has to use special rewetting drops periodically to keep one of her eyes moist throughout the day. So, I know you can get drops for this purpose. You might have to go to a special pharmacy to get them, though.

As far as treatment in the case of a flare-up is concerned, it must exist. I don't know how accessible it is for this type of thing, though. In my experience, and from what I've been told, healthcare is generally good-quality in Mexico. We have problems with public clinics in D.F. because of overcrowding, though.

There are private clinics and hospitals as well. I have no experience with them other than visiting someone who had been interned. I've been told many of the same doctors work in both public and private clinics and hospitals.

[notamiss]

An appointment with a (private) opthalmologist might cost on the order of $300-600 (pesos), to give you a rough idea.

[Tretyakovskii]

I don't want to be over dramatic, here, but I consider this a non-issue.

Depending on where you live in Mexico, you can get care that is from good, to world class. Medicines are readily available, OTC, except for barbituates, and much cheaper, in most cases, than in the U.S.

Medical/hospital care will cost anywhere from about 30% of U.S., on down, even for very high quality care, in private hospitals and clinics.

With the problem you described, you won't have to worry, I believe, unless you decided to settle in some dusty, Mexican village somewhere....

[Guy Courchesne]

If you already know what to ask for or have an idea as to treatment - eye drops for example - and it's not very serious, you could pop into the consultorio of any Dr Simi pharmacy. 35 pesos a visit I think and the goods are right there to purchase afterwards.

More generally, such as your broken leg example, it's quite easy to get treatment paying anywhere from nothing at certain clinics or the red cross to quite a bit for high end care. I broke my foot a few years back and had it treated at a DF run clinic. No cost, everything taken care of just fine.

[Phil_K]

Having worked a lot in Mexico with doctors, and having got it from the horse's mouth, I would avoid Dr. Simi's products like the plague. Gen�ricos are fine, similares not ... at least if you actually want to see some result.

[Spector]

I actually use eye drops right now. I don't use any prescription medicines - it's just a good quality over-the-counter eye moisturiser called "Gel Tears" which I would bring with me if I was to go through with this. What happened on a couple of occasions was that I woke up with my eye totally dry and bloodshot, and ended up having to go to the hospital to have it treated. But it doesn't need an operation or anything; maybe just an eye patch for two/three days like I had once before!
Obviously it's something I have to take into account, but the idea of not going ahead with this simply on the basis of one dry eye that may (or may not) flare up again is wrong, I think.

[Tretyakovskii]

Spector, you may have a wrong impression of Mexico. There's lots of poverty here, but this is the twelfth largest economy in the world: you can find everything here. There are Walmarts everywhere, for god's sake, and they all have pharmacies, as do all the big Mexican chain supermarkets, where eye care products exactly like you find at home are sold.

[Spector]

[Phil_K]