Are you an expatriate looking for a women’s health clinic in (Xela) Quetzaltenango, Guatemala? Maybe you’re a Spanish school student, missionary, or traveler needing some extra medical attention.

We moved to Xela for Spanish school and we also happened to be pregnant so we checked out the APROFAM (Asociacion Pro Bienestar de la Familia) Clinic. Since we were looking for a place to have our baby in Guatemala. Here’s what we thought…

Especially for women,  APROFAM provides a full-service clinic and mini-hospital complete with multiple in-house surgeons, doctors, overnight rooms and birthing facilities.

This clinic is part of a nation-wide clinic service and offers an all around good choice for locals and expatriates as well. Located on 3 Calle 7-02 Zona 1 in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, APROFAM is just a few blocks from Parque Central (Central Park) just off of octava avenida (8th Ave.) Phone: 7765-3886

While private hospitals often sound better than clinics, many times private hospitals do not have seasoned doctors on staff around the clock. Outside of the Guatemalan capital, the private hospitals are often run by one doctor and a handful of resident/intern doctors who are being trained. With one “real” doctor available, you can imagine that if he’s busy, out of town, or at home in bed, an emergency may not be treated as quickly as a life or death situation may require.  At APROFAM they have several doctors as well as three surgeons who share the burden of the clinic and provide continual service as needed.

Positives:

PRICES

• Prices are reasonable (Complete blood labs for Q145 (US$19.30))
• Cheaper than private hospitals
• Medication prices were quoted as cheaper than private hospitals and even less than local pharmacies.

SERVICES

A variety of services are offered:

1. 3D Ultrasounds(Q400/US$54)
   

   Chrisi getting her blood drawn for a check up at the APROFAM clinic.

2. Standard Ultrasounds (Q135/US$18)
3. Cardio
4. Lab draws and evaluations
5. 24 hour emergency services
6. Birthing Rooms
7. Overnight rooms for moms
8. Oxygen
9. Regular doctor visits
10. Discount Pharmacy
11. Birth with private room (Q3,000/US$400)
12. Birth with shared room (Q2,500/US$332)

EMERGENCY SERVICES

24-hour services for delivery was a big plus and a very nice option as we approached our 9th month of pregnancy and only lived a few blocks away.

They have an incubator, oxygen and several surgeons available if there is an emergency.  Private rooms with their own bathroom provided a small but adequate space for short recovery times. We didn’t get to see the delivery room so we can’t really give much detail on that.

The multiple on-call surgeons added much to like for this clinic.

ULTRASOUND SERVICES

They have a modern ultrasound machine very similar to what we saw in the States before we moved to Guatemala. The Ultrasound tech even spoke excellent English! (Our studies at Spanish school are helping but we’re working on fluency.)

OXYGEN

Oxygen ports were visible though we didn’t see them in action.

 

 

Negatives:

LINES

While being readily accessible and inexpensive, this clinic is no secret and lines at the receptionist, teller and pharmacy are common. Once past this point, the labs were quick and pretty much no lines. Different times of day may result in different wait times, but it’s similar to your public health clinics in the states.

LANGUAGE

If you don’t speak Spanish fluently yet, you’ll probably want to bring a translator along. You can probably do it in broken Spanish if it’s just lab work but I recommend bringing someone along. The radiologist (ultrasound tech) did speak fluent English so that was a plus for us!

ODDS ‘N ENDS

When we went to the lab they handed my wife a jar for a urine sample. It wasn’t a cup or disposable, but a clean, old jar (formerly a jelly or some other canned good jar).  Apparently they had to cut costs somewhere and the disposable cups didn’t make the cut.

The private room didn’t have a bassinet for the baby. It was pretty small if you have your husband or family with you. The single bed had a couple of sheets and it didn’t look like they went out of  their way to make it too comfortable for you. Maybe they didn’t want you staying more than the regular 24 hours after birth. There was a slight odor in the room we visited.

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NOTE: Prices are subject to change. These prices are just to give you an idea of what prices were when we visited the clinic in 2011.

After much looking, talking with a local missionary who has had multiple home births,  and checking out a midwife who has a clinic in Guatemala City. We decided to have our baby in the capital and return to Xela to continue with school after our firstborn is born.