| Watch out! or, as Mexicans say, ¡OJO! On occasion, visitors to Mazatlan find themselves in need of medical attention. After an accident, they might need that attention desperately, and they act while in a state of panic. |
| The Pacific Pearl has received numerous complaints about so-called “medical clinics” in the Golden Zone that profess to deal with emergencies. These handy storefront operations may or may not have competent medical help on hand, but either way the charges for treatment and a bed in the clinic (nearly always pronounced mandatory) are sure to be as high as, or even higher than, comparable medical services in the United States. |
| Fees charged by doctors and hospitals here in Mazatlan are, on average, about one-third of those commanded for similar treatment in the United States. It’s difficult to nail down specific prices, because they are somewhat flexible. For example, a neighborhood general practitioner in a blue-collar colonia is known to charge 30 pesos for an office visit, while a specialist at the Policlinica (the medical building in front of Sharp Hospital) normally charges about 250 pesos for a consultation. Clearly, these fees are well below what’s charged for an office visit in, say, Phoenix, Ariz. |
| As for hospitals, local prices also run substantially lower than in the U.S. Clinical del Mar, for one, is a well respected local medical facility near the Golden Zone that posts its prices in the lobby. Currently the cost of a private room is 1,529 pesos a day. Other local hospitals that meet U.S. standards for equipment and skilled care are Sharp Hospital, also near the Golden Zone, and two downtown facilities, Divina Providencia and Hospital Militar. |
| The operators of the storefront clinics/care facilities in the hotel area aim specifically to snag tourists. These medicos apparently reason that the patient is covered by health insurance back home, so why not inflate their prices to the highest possible amounts that those policies will pay. (Of course, that’s too bad for the tourists who do NOT have medical insurance back home.) |
| Meanwhile, though, no local provider of medical care wants to wait months for payment of a claim submitted to a foreign insurance carrier, especially when the insured person is by then long gone from Mazatlan. All of them will ask for a credit card as assurance that the bill(s) will be paid up front, leaving the patient to make his or her insurance claim upon return home. |
| The Pacific Pearl hears complaints that the storefronts have been known to hold patients as virtual prisoners, threatening them with arrest unless they sign the bill authorizing the credit card company to pay the clinic’s inflated charges in full. |
| It’s obviously best not to allow yourself to get into such a spot in the first place. If your emergency situation requires immediate, urgent attention, demand that your hotel call an ambulance from the Red Cross (Cruz Roja) which provides this service and will take you to any hospital of your choosing. Sr. Alberto Osuna, local Red Cross director, says his agency’s ambulance is absolutely free (although they do accept donations), operates 981-3690 or 985-1451, and can be at any hotel in the Golden Zone within 7 minutes. |
| Select one of the four facilities we’ve mentioned: Sharp Hospital or Clinica del Mar, both near the hotel area, or Divina Providencia or Hospital Militar downtown. All of these facilities have the proper equipment and staff to deal with any emergency; there should be somebody on premises or on call who can speak English so you can explain your health problem. |
| If you do, despite all these warnings, find yourself imprisoned in a storefront medical clinic, or hospital, and shaken down for inflated medical fees, do not allow yourself to be intimidated. Do not sign anything! The law is actually on your side. Save any and all receipts. Press charges. |
| Under Article 91 of Mexico’s consumer protection laws, you have the backing of the Consumer Protection Agency in demanding reimbursement if you actually do overpay for ANY type of service. And under Article 281 of the Sinaloa State Penal Code, it is against the law for “the administrator of a hospital, sanatorium, clinic, dispensary, nursing facility or any other health center, alleging unpaid debts of any nature, to impede the departure of a patient when that patient, or the patient’s relatives, request it.” |
| You’d have to document the accusations against the clinic to make your charges stick, but if convicted under Art. 281, the person trying to prevent your departure could be imprisoned for up to two years by the authorities — and made to pay a hefty fine besides. |