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Experience at Chapala IMSS


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Having a accident with a sharp knife and trying to stop the bleeding from a cut finger, this afternoon I had need to visit the emergency clinic at Chapala IMSS

When we arrived after a short wait the Dr , a young internist? informed us that he was the only person on duty, that his nurse ( who seemed to to know where everything was and keys to "the" cupboard) did not turn up for work..so he had only limited "tools" to work with!!!

After cleaning and soaking and putting on some antiseptic and binding tightly he suggested that if I have more bleeding etc I should go to the Red Cross!!! I left with a box of pain pills should I have pain

As I got thinking about this experience I thought what a miserable example of a Clinic to treat a population the size of Chapala/Lakeside. The building is yet again other converted/ cobbled up house with terrible house keeping.The toilets are dark, bulbs and toilets seats missing. Time and time again how many times have they moved from one dump to another dump.

For a Municipality the size of Chapala wouldn't you think IMSS would have a dedicated building that was worthy of the system? During my last 3 visited they have never been able to fill my prescription 100%  and the staff/doctors keep making excuses and laming the government cut backs. The more you think about the joining of SP and IMSS , this merger is proving to be a failure. How can you provide a "free" SP service if you do not have a budget from the government but simply to rely on milking the Cash COW IMSS to which we are paying increasing inscriptions each year. I can understand now why many Mexicans are saying AMLO is screwing up

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8 minutes ago, lakeside7 said:

Having a accident with a sharp knife and trying to stop the bleeding from a cut finger, this afternoon I had need to visit the emergency clinic at Chapala IMSS

When we arrived after a short wait the Dr , a young internist? informed us that he was the only person on duty, that his nurse ( who seemed to to know where everything was and keys to "the" cupboard) did not turn up for work..so he had only limited "tools" to work with!!!

After cleaning and soaking and putting on some antiseptic and binding tightly he suggested that if I have more bleeding etc I should go to the Red Cross!!! I left with a box of pain pills should I have pain

As I got thinking about this experience I thought what a miserable example of a Clinic to treat a population the size of Chapala/Lakeside. The building is yet again other converted/ cobbled up house with terrible house keeping.The toilets are dark, bulbs and toilets seats missing. Time and time again how many times have they moved from one dump to another dump.

For a Municipality the size of Chapala wouldn't you think IMSS would have a dedicated building that was worthy of the system? During my last 3 visited they have never been able to fill my prescription 100%  and the staff/doctors keep making excuses and laming the government cut backs. The more you think about the joining of SP and IMSS , this merger is proving to be a failure. How can you provide a "free" SP service if you do not have a budget from the government but simply to rely on milking the Cash COW IMSS to which we are paying increasing inscriptions each year. I can understand now why many Mexicans are saying AMLO is screwing up

Any GP could have fixed you in their office or you could have gone to SAT but it looks like you were more interested in saving a few centavos. Yes even Cruz Roja could have done it for a minuscule amount.You get what you pay for.

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Sorry you cut yourself so badly that you needed to get medical attention!

Over the years there has been much discussion as to the quality.... or lack thereof.... of IMSS facilities from 'jurisdiction to jurisdiction'. This is a well know fact even to gringos who live here. This 'poor' medical facility is indeed a shame as it was for years the ONLY option for most Nationals... those who basically had no other options as most of us gringos do.  I think that this is why 'many/most' foreigners choose to not depend on IMSS or for only catastrophic backup coverage..... however ill conceived that choice may be.  But to your point..... yes IMO it is a tragedy that the Chapala IMSS is as you described and the real losers are the Mexican people at Lakeside.

BTW, Seguro Popular and IMSS have/did not join as you have suggested. They are and have been separate. AMLO shut down SP and it has been 'replaced', starting last January, by a new centralized system known as INSABI but there are still questions about its actual coverage and costs. It and IMSS still remain autonomous to my knowledge.

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7 hours ago, RickS said:

Over the years there has been much discussion as to the quality.... or lack thereof.... of IMSS facilities from 'jurisdiction to jurisdiction'. This is a well know fact even to gringos who live here. This 'poor' medical facility is indeed a shame as it was for years the ONLY option for most Nationals... those who basically had no other options as most of us gringos do.  I think that this is why 'many/most' foreigners choose to not depend on IMSS or for only catastrophic backup coverage..... however ill conceived that choice may be.  But to your point..... yes IMO it is a tragedy that the Chapala IMSS is as you described and the real losers are the Mexican people at Lakeside.

 

Many gringos who cannot or do not get private insurance here, join IMSS, but say they will only use it for catastrophic events.  What kind of reasoning is this?  That they won't trust IMSS to stitch them up after a fall, but they will depend on IMSS for open heart surgery???? 

In reality, when faced with a catastrophic medical event, most gringos in IMSS don't opt to use it.  They either go the private medical route here, or if time allows, head back to the US for their Medicare coverage. 

Private medical practices and hospitals in this area are excellent, but uninsured expats need to be financially prepared to pay out of pocket; and US expats need to think very hard before they cancel their Medicare coverage.  

I have heard expats say they saved thousands of dollars by stopping their Medicare premiums and putting that money aside to pay for private care.  If you cancel Medicare at age 65 and have a catastrophic event at 75, your medical nest egg is 17K USD.  That's something, but recent posts here say hip replacements are running $20K.   If you cancel Medicare at age 65 and your catastrophic event occurs at age 66.....better have some decent savings to cover your medical expenses here. 

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8 hours ago, lakeside7 said:

Having a accident with a sharp knife and trying to stop the bleeding from a cut finger, this afternoon I had need to visit the emergency clinic at Chapala IMSS

When we arrived after a short wait the Dr , a young internist? informed us that he was the only person on duty, that his nurse ( who seemed to to know where everything was and keys to "the" cupboard) did not turn up for work..so he had only limited "tools" to work with!!!

After cleaning and soaking and putting on some antiseptic and binding tightly he suggested that if I have more bleeding etc I should go to the Red Cross!!! I left with a box of pain pills should I have pain

As I got thinking about this experience I thought what a miserable example of a Clinic to treat a population the size of Chapala/Lakeside. The building is yet again other converted/ cobbled up house with terrible house keeping.The toilets are dark, bulbs and toilets seats missing. Time and time again how many times have they moved from one dump to another dump.

For a Municipality the size of Chapala wouldn't you think IMSS would have a dedicated building that was worthy of the system? During my last 3 visited they have never been able to fill my prescription 100%  and the staff/doctors keep making excuses and laming the government cut backs. The more you think about the joining of SP and IMSS , this merger is proving to be a failure. How can you provide a "free" SP service if you do not have a budget from the government but simply to rely on milking the Cash COW IMSS to which we are paying increasing inscriptions each year. I can understand now why many Mexicans are saying AMLO is screwing up

It is a 3rd world country.

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The IMSS clinic in Chapala is a awful. Under the AMLO administration all federal services have worsened. (for him unneeded  railroads and refineries are more important)

It is much easier and quicker for minor services and emergencies to pay a couple of hundred pesos at one of the many 24 hour clinics here. Leave the IMSS clinic for those that can't afford a clinic visit.

As to using IMSS for major problems or catastrophic events ... I have experience with 2 different IMSS hospitals. Number 89 in GDL and number 180 in Tlajomulco (used for Chapala residents) . My wife had spinal surgery in GDL. The doctor was one of the top spinal surgeons in GDL.  Like many doctors he works 4 hours a day at IMSS and thus will get a government pension. Then he goes to his office from 4pm until 8pm. My wife's follow up appts were at his office as it was close to our apartment in GDL and he thought it would be more convenient. She did her rehab at the swimming pool in the hospital. 

Thousands of Mexicans have major medical treatment at IMSS hospitals. Are there ever problems?? .. sure.. but as you can read on many posts on this board there are problems with private hospitals as well.   

 

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My wife's family has 4 doctors and our 4 friends are doctors 1/2 a day at IMSS. They are top notch specialists in their fields and their private practices are booming. Anyone who makes statements about how lousy IMSS doctors are is uninformed and ignorant of how the socialized medicine in Mexico operates.

AMLO cut socialized medicine bugets by up to 35 percent in 2019 and up to 40 percent in 2020 and plundered, in 2019, the Seguro Popular trust fund for catastrophic illnesses such as cancer, open heart surgery, organ transplants etc. which was built up yearly for over 15 years and over 154,000,000,000,000 pesos. 

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I have also heard the Tajomulco IMSS hospital is large and good. People should aquaint themselves to this location before anything serious. It is a short drive from here. It is a bedroom and family raising community of Guadalajara - many people with good jobs, contributing well to IMSS coffers. Money talks. The trouble is for expats, that language is Spanish, at the lower bureaucratic level anyways. Most specialists from Guadalajara speak excellent English because they were often enrolled in private schools.

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28 minutes ago, AlanMexicali said:

My wife's family has 4 doctors and our 4 friends are doctors 1/2 a day at IMSS. They are top notch specialists in their fields and their private practices are booming. Anyone who makes statements about how lousy IMSS doctors are is uninformed and ignorant of how the socialized medicine in Mexico operates.

AMLO cut socialized medicine bugets by up to 35 percent in 2019 and up to 40 percent in 2020 and plundered, in 2019, the Seguro Popular trust fund for catastrophic illnesses such as cancer, open heart surgery, organ transplants etc. which was built up yearly for over 15 years and over 154,000,000,000,000 pesos. 

The doctors may be good but heir clinics and hospitals are not. 

 

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22 minutes ago, CHILLIN said:

I have also heard the Tajomulco IMSS hospital is large and good. People should aquaint themselves to this location before anything serious. It is a short drive from here. It is a bedroom and family raising community of Guadalajara - many people with good jobs, contributing well to IMSS coffers. Money talks. The trouble is for expats, that language is Spanish, at the lower bureaucratic level anyways. Most specialists from Guadalajara speak excellent English because they were often enrolled in private schools.

A friend went to the IMSS hospital in Tlajomulco after a spider bite and died-she should not have. She spoke Spanish. Her husband said it was a bit primitive. 

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My friend went to and spent time in that IMSS hospital over several weeks. Her husband felt she received poor treatment. 

I can name a number of second world countries.

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1 hour ago, Upfront said:

no hospital i have ever been in is remotely like your suggestion

People die in hospitals every day in every country. 

A Johns Hopkins study released in 2016 estimated that roughly 250,000 people die annually because of medical errors.  That would make medical errors the third leading cause of death in the United States, behind only heart disease and cancer.

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"French demographer Alfred Sauvy wrote of "Three worlds, one planet" in an article published in L'Observateur in 1952.  The First World consisted of the U.S., Western Europe and their allies. The Second World was the so-called Communist Bloc: the Soviet Union, China, Cuba and friends. The remaining nations, which aligned with neither group, were assigned to the Third World."  The poshest and most efficient hospital I've ever seen was thus '3rd world', Bumrungrad in Bangkok, one of the inventors of 'medical tourism'.  See: https://www.bumrungrad.com/en

And, yes, millions of patients die and suffer needlessly world-wide every year due to primitive practices and seemingly willful ignorance, despite the ministrations of real healers such as Dr. Gawande.   See: https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/atul-gawande , or historically, Semmelweis. 

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