The Chilean government must pay for the medical care of its citizens in a city in Patagonia

They are those from the southern region of the neighboring country, who cross to be treated at the Esquel hospital. In emergencies they will continue to assist you for free.

Starting next month, the Chilean government will take over pay for medical care of the citizens of that country who attend in Chubut. It will be in the case of those who live in three locations in southern Chile, and who are assisted in the Esquel Zone Hospital.

In addition, patients must arrive with a referral or a certificate stating that the ailment they suffer not attended in their places of residence. This was confirmed by the director of the hospital of that mountain city of Chubut, Carlos Winter, who clarified that if a tourist suffers some type of accident “he will be treated as always, here no one was ever denied care.”

The province signed an agreement with the Chilean government. As Winter explained, “it is not that the patient from Chile comes and is treated directly. You must come with a medical referral from one of the three hospitals that Chaitén, Futaleufú and Palena have, in the south of that country.” These three towns are close to the border with Argentina and from where Chilean citizens usually cross to receive care in Esquel.

Winter said that “the beds we have are not many and sometimes we have the hospital ward to the limit. It must be taken into account that the Zonal Hospital of Esquel is the head of the entire Cordilleran area of ​​Chubut and receives patients from 14 rural hospitals. Therefore, the demand is high and sometimes we do not have a physical place for the number of patients that come to us”.

The official explained that “when I say that they must attend with a medical referral for a service that is not done in the hospitals that I mentioned, I am referring to scans, surgeries or some other complex study that is not performed.” And he added: “The Chilean government then pays for it.”

After reiterating that it is an agreement “between the government of the province and the Chilean government” (which could also be extended to other cities in the province that border the neighboring country), he clarified that “the situation is different with respect to those who are here circumstantially. as tourists. If you suffer any type of accident or need urgent medical care, you will be treated like any other person. That’s how it always was.”

The medical tourism boom

Beyond free care in public hospitals, as in the case where Chubut has now signed an agreement with Chile, Argentina is recovering its place as a medical tourism plaza. That is, foreigners who come to our country to be treated for medical reasons or to undergo aesthetic treatments, for the convenience of costs and quality of Argentine professionals.

According to data from the Argentine Chamber of Medical Tourism (CATM), before the pandemic, the country received a monthly average of 1,000 foreigners seeking surgeries or treatments. In the first half of 2022, 60% was recovered and in the second stage of the year the pre-Covid figure is expected to arrive.

40% come to attend from Latin American regions such as Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay and Chile. They also come from the United States, Canada and Europe.

Las most required practices by foreigners are cardiovascular treatments, aesthetic and reconstructive surgeries, traumatological surgeries, ophthalmological surgeries and neurological rehabilitation treatments and neurosurgeries.

But the demand for wellness programs, such as treatments to lose weight or manage stress. For tourists, care in Argentina can be between 40% and 80% cheaper than in their countries of origin.

Chubut. Correspondent.

AS

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