We’ve visited the marina area in downtown Santo Domingo, but never docked there. The area seemed a little too industrial and congested for us, although you can’t argue that it’s close to a lot of what many visitors to Santo Domingo would like to experience.

However, I am experienced with healthcare services in Santo Domingo during a recent stay at nearby Boca Chica.

Bottom line first: CEDIMAT (Centro de Diagnostico y Medicina Avanzada y de Conferencias de Medicas y Tele Medicina) medical center in Santo Domingo provides high-quality care that meets US/Canadian/European standards for quality and patient safety.

Unfortunately, I took sick while here – not sure if it was locally acquired or from Panama, where I recently volunteered in rural communities for almost a month. Regardless, I am a physician and knew I needed to go to a full-service emergency department for a thorough evaluation of intense abdominal pain.

I used my Uber app at 2 am, and 9 minutes later, my Uber ride was at Marina ZarPar in Boca Chica, and 30 minutes later he dropped me off at the CEDIMAT ED.

I’ve run hospitals, large medical centers, and a healthcare region in a major metropolitan area, and everything I experienced at CDIMAT was comparable to what an acutely ill patient would experience at a well run, accredited medical center in the U.S.

I was quickly triaged by a competent nurse, quickly and thoroughly evaluated by an ED physician, and then promptly seen by a general surgeon and a gastroenterologist (first a GI fellow and then her staff attending), after appropriate blood and urine specimens obtained for analysis and an abdominal CT scan performed.

I was admitted to a semi-private room for observation and medical management. Nursing care on the ward was present, caring, and similar to but just a notch or two below what one would expect at a U.S. medical center.

Fortunately, my workup was negative and my symptoms improved overnight and were discharged the next afternoon, and I’ve continued to get well since hospital discharge 48 hours ago.
A few of observations about CDIMAT:

– Infection control processes are taken seriously and meet international standards.

– I speak enough decent Spanish that I did not require translation services, and whenever I faltered with Spanish the doctor would break into good enough English. I don’t think as high a percentage of nurses speak English, and I think even fewer techs and assistants do.

Therefore, I’m not sure how a non-Spanish speaker would fare. The medical center has an International Patient Office, that I suspect is capable of providing multilingual translators for patients, but I don’t know how ever-present they would be.

– The payment was required for ED services before I could be admitted to the inpatient ward. The payment was required for my hospital stay before they would disconnect my IV, cut off my hospital ID band, and discharge me back to my boat. Major credit cards are excepted, and my bill for both ED and inpatient was a paltry fraction of what it would have cost in the U.S.

In closing, I would not hesitate at all to return to CDIMAT if I experience another acute illness in the Santo Domingo area in the future.