stem cell clinic in Panama City

The Institute of Cellular Medicine (ICM) in San José, Costa Rica, which opened in 2006 and has treated hundreds of people, recently shut down its clinic.

The company’s Panama City stem cell clinic is still open.

An article on the Popular Science blog says that the Costa Rican health ministry stopped ICM’s stem cell treatments because there is no hard scientific evidence indicating that the treatments work. But a comment on that same post (apparently from someone at ICM) offers the alternate view that “the ‘closure’ of the clinic was a business decision by the company to consolidate operations.”

Stem cell treatments, which introduce new cells into damaged tissue in order to treat a disease or injury, have both been hailed as the new wave in medicine and vilified as a scam preying on desperate people. Such treatments have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, meaning they have not undergone the lengthy human clinical trials that would allow such federal approval.

Popular Science also has an interesting article about stem cell tourism in general, focusing on treatments available in the Dominican Republic. “Droves of patients are heading overseas for stem-cell therapies unavailable in the U.S,” says the article. “ Is it a dangerous scam — or is America just behind the curve?”

A public hospital in San José, Costa Rica

With the new immigration reforms that go into effect in Costa Rica next week, it looks like expats who are legal residents in Costa Rica must enroll in the national healthcare system,  the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social. Known  as the Caja, the system gives its members low-cost access to neighborhood clinics, pharmacies, and public hospitals.

Some Costa Rica expats are satisfied with Caja (public) care; others are most definitely not.

Visit Miss Move Abroad to read one whole-hearted and one half-hearted endorsement of the Caja, and two accounts of what can only be termed ordeals at public hospitals.

The crossroads in Liberia, fast food haven; photo by David W. Smith

In the hottest town in Costa Rica I saw a doctor about my ear problems. They’d been feeling plugged up for weeks. We were staying right in town, so I just wandered around and found Clinica San Rafael Arcangel, which looked clean and professional and had an air-conditioned waiting room.

A head and neck specialist (cirujano de cabeza y cuello) could see me that afternoon, so I paid my 30,000 colones (about $60) for the initial consultation, surprised at the high price. Costa Ricans I spoke with in the waiting room said they had paid the same for an initial consultations–it was worth it to them not to have to endure the long waits at the Caja, the national health care system.

I saw Dr. Carlos Granera Umana, who had trained in San Jose but relocated to Guanacaste early in his professional career. He liked everything about the place except the heat. “Stay inside in the middle of the day,” he counseled.

And the price?

“We’ve been charging that for years and are about ready to raise the prices. A lot of middle class professional have moved to Liberia from San Jose and for them, the rate is not an issue.”

Dr. Granera was kind and gentle and he managed to unplug one ear and make the other one a little better. I’ll check out more medical care in San Jose and David might see a dentist here.

Costa Rica-style directions to the Clinica San Rafael Archangel in Liberia:

from the Escuela Asucion Esquivel, go 100 meters  East and then 75 South.

Telephone: 2666-1717

Alex Murray working on his deck after being released from the hospital.

Alex Murray was burning trash at his home near Lake Arenal in Costa Rica when the fire flared up and burned him over 20% of his body.

He spent the next 20 days in 2 Costa Rican hospitals, the first public (Hospital San Juan de Dios), the second private (Clinica Biblica).

Alex is one of four expats featured in this in-depth look at public and private hospitals in Costa Rica.