Thread: Border residents turn to Matamoros Hosp. for aff. healthcare

Border residents turn to Matamoros hospital for affordable healthcare

May 31, 2008 - 10:39PM
By Aaron Nelsen, The Brownsville Herald
One morning a few months ago Dora Sanchez's son, Sigifredo, woke with a temperature of 104.8 and a splitting headache.



He also complained of a loss of feeling in his arms and legs. Sanchez rushed her son to the nearest hospital emergency room near her home in Mission, where they spent the next four hours being shuttled between waiting rooms.



When a doctor finally arrived, he quickly diagnosed Sigifredo with bronchitis and assured Dora there was no need to worry. It was nothing a cycle of Tylenol couldn't cure.



He wrote out a prescription and sent them on their way. Sigifredo's condition, however, persisted. Sensing the doctor hadn't taken enough time to give a thorough diagnosis, Dora packed her son into the car once more and headed for Centro Medico Internacional in Matamoros.



"When we got there they were waiting for us in the emergency room," Sanchez said. "They got us in immediately and started treating Sigi."



Doctors there diagnosed the boy with pneumonia. Sigifredo was treated, but in the following days he developed a Staph infection, requiring surgery to remove his tonsils.



The experience shook Dora's confidence in healthcare in the United States.



With her son in need of immediate care, she chose to have doctors at Centro Medico perform Sigifredo's procedure. The price tag for his surgery and seven days of care at CMI was $5,500, but Sanchez paid nothing over her insurance co-pay of $150.



On a separate occasion after her son suffered an allergic reaction, Sanchez received a $3,800 bill for just three hours treatment at a U.S. hospital.



"U.S. hospitals are too slow, too expensive and treat you like a herd of cattle," Sanchez said. "It's a vicious cycle of people and doctors who abuse the system."



Sanchez joins many local residents who feel alienated by the impersonal service, exorbitant physician fees and ancillary charges they claim to see at U.S. hospitals. An estimated 32 percent of Rio Grande Valley residents seek medical treatment in Mexico, according to a National Institutes of Health-funded study organized by University of Texas-Pan American researchers.



A 2005 U.S. Census Bureau report found that at least 38 percent of border community residents have no health insurance. Amid this binational landscape, where opposing healthcare systems operate side by side, the process of seeking treatment in Mexico is a common practice.



In addition to culling a greater share of Valley patients, the hospital is hoping to cash in on a multibillion-dollar medical tourism industry.



"Mexico has not been positioned as a destination for medical tourism," said Mauricio Sampayo, director of market strategy for Centro Medico.. "Maybe because there is a perception of tequila and burros, but it's an obvious choice because it's so close."










Born and raised in Matamoros, the Sampayo brothers are U.S.-educated. Mauricio studied at the University of Texas at Austin and later spent 10 years at pharmaceutical giant Eli Lily and Company. Patricio graduated from Harvard.



Built with private investment, both pesos and dollars, the Sampayos had a vision that centered on raising the quality of healthcare services in Matamoros for its citizens.



"Before we started I had never stepped foot in a doctor's office in Mexico," Mauricio said. "The thought just never occurred to me. When I did it was literally embarrassing."



Undersized doctor's offices line the streets of downtown Matamoros, and hospitals are congested and ill-equipped to meet the healthcare needs of a city of over 700,000 residents. It was clear to the Sampayos that Matamoros was in need of a hospital, but they knew nothing of administering such a facility let alone building one.



Despite their lack of experience, the Sampayos went ahead with CMI, building the hospital on a lot owned by their family. They recruited the city's best doctors, whose only limitations had been access to the latest technology.



The Sampayos spared no expense, spending millions on the same equipment found in U.S. hospitals, including Siemens SOMATOM Sensation CT Scan and Kodak radiology equipment.



In 2005, they brought 18 doctors on board. Today there are 60 doctors and construction is underway on additional offices, which could eventually double the current physician staff.



"There are only two urologists in the state of Tamaulipas, and we've got one of them," Mauricio proudly said of the staff he and his brother assembled.



Even with their sights on elevating healthcare services in Matamoros, it soon became apparent that patients were trickling across the border as word spread about Centro Medico. The Sampayos estimate that perhaps 15 percent of their patient base is American.



With an advertising campaign, which includes newspaper and billboard ads, the brothers believe there is opportunity to double that figure within the next five years.











Centro Medico is a gleaming 25-bed acute care hospital and surgical facility that more closely resembles a U.S. medical campus than a typical hospital in Matamoros. The facility is the brainchild of brothers Mauricio and Patricio Sampayo.





http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/a ... order.html

I guess she doesn't realize that she is the main cause of our overcrowded hospitals and the reason that treatment is so expensive , they don't pay.

I hope they build a huge OB unit but in a 25 bed hospital it's unlikely they have a maternity/OB department.

Why are burn and shooting victims still taken to the border so they receive treatment in the U.S.A.?

Centro Medico is a gleaming 25-bed acute care hospital and surgical facility that more closely resembles a U.S. medical campus than a typical hospital in Matamoros. The facility is the brainchild of brothers Mauricio and Patricio Sampayo.

Undersized doctor's offices line the streets of downtown Matamoros, and hospitals are congested and ill-equipped to meet the healthcare needs of a city of over 700,000 residents.

Today there are 60 doctors and construction is underway on additional offices, which could eventually double the current physician staff.

A 25 bed hospital with a staff of 60 doctors for a city of 700,000?

From the tone of the article it seems Centro Medico's goal is treating U.S. patients with insurance rather than the residents and poor of Matamoros.