Medical

Another popular question I get is "how bad is the medical?". It is funny when we preface a question with "how bad".

My answer is this. Roatan's private hospitals are great clinics. Roatan's public hospitals are terrible at best. Overall I was very happy with all my trips to the private hospitals. I would highly encourage anyone to go and visit Miss Peggy's and make a donation to her free clinic. The clinic has grown over the years and I would feel safe going back with its medical capacity it now has.

I know that my feelings about the public hospital situation sounds harsh so let me explain my own personal observations and feelings for each hospital type on Roatan.

The private hospitals such as Miss Peggy's and Anthony's key are staffed with Doctor's who are given the appropriate equipment for your entry to mid level medical care. I would consider this care from any type of scrapes to compound bone fractures. I do not believe they have the equipment or trained staff to pull out a clot causing a stoke. I have never found either hospital above to unsanitary or untrained/unsupervised staff. My family and I have taken many visits and even had house calls performed by both of the above listed hospitals and have found them to be professional, trained and prepared when needed. The cost for either hospital I believe is $25 bucks to be admitted plus your prescription which total cost never exceeded by $15 dollar copay in the US. I really wish the US had set ups like this.

The public hospitals are in need of great help in Roatan. I would really need to be on my death bed to be admitted to either one of the public hospitals that I am aware of in Coxen Hole. Inappropriate equipment, staff and training are key factors to these hospitals functioning. Our last visit to one of these hospitals was for my sons circumcision. You would not think that circumcision these days is too difficult a task, but knowing of the problems that had happened to others we decided to only use the chef of the bay islands surgeon for the job. What was supposed to have been a 15 to 20 minute ordeal turned into 48 hours of near death from our child. Looking back at the experience I can only say the following things: 1. The hospital does not carry any child or infant sized needles. 2. They do not have any medical equipment for monitoring children. 3. The incubators they put children in are rusted shut. 4. The oxygen units do not exist for the incubators. 5. Insufficent pediatric care avaliable. 6. Insufficent trained staff to assist patients medical needs especially during the night shift. 7. No running water. 8. Unsanitary equipment. I am not saying that they do not try hard to make end meet in the public hospitals or trying to demean them in anyway. They need a lot of work and those who are working hard need more help.