General Information

	This section answers your "why" and "how" questions about HTC and the Costa Rican health system
	[Health in Costa Rica] [Physicians] [Infrastructure] [Private Medicine] [Our Company] [Contact HTC] [FAQ] [Miscellany]

Health in Costa Rica

Statistics from the World Health Organization's "The World Health Report 1995" place Costa Rica third in life expectancy in the world, sandwiched neatly behind Japan and France and ahead of Great Britain and the United States; and with a per capita income about one tenth that of the other four. Certainly, some reasons for this can be found in the Costa Rican less-than-frenetic lifestyle, the healthy, fresh, non-preservative-laden foods of the country, the tropical climate--Costa Rica seems to be a healthy place to live. But if one looks simply at the life issues, so are many other places on the globe. Costa Rica is a healthy place to live because its government continues a long- time commitment to affordable access for each and every citizen to one of the finest health care systems in the world.

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The Physicians

Most Costa Rican doctors and dentists receive their basic medical training in Costa Rica. From here, they travel far and wide seeking specialized training from the finest teaching hospitals in the world, often becoming certified in their specialities in the countries where they receive their advanced training. It is not uncommon to find a Costa Rican doctor or dentist speaking several languages, all learned while pursuing advanced degrees in foreign countries. Perhaps it is the CCSS work or the varied travel and study that does it, but the caring expressed by the doctors and dentists throughout the country is noteworthy in its extreme.

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The Infrastructure

Most private and many public hospitals and clinics are equipped with current generation medical equipment, i.e. MRI, TAC, Ultrasound, Mammography, etc. Several clinics around the central valley are devoted solely to diagnostics. Highly sophisticated laboratories operate in most hospitals and in some private clinics and treatment centers.

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Private Medicine

Even though each and every physician must give part of his or her time to the governmental health care system, many provide private health care services as well. Of the almost 1,000 medical specialists in Costa Rica, fully one quarter are qualified on a world class level. HTC works closely with only the most qualified medical professionals in Costa Rica in both the private and public sectors.

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Health Tourism Corporation of Costa Rica

HTC has been working quietly in the health tourism field for ten years. With our reorganization and public appearance in March, 1997, HTC is now actively involved with health tourists from around the globe. The company president has thirty years of experience with health systems in the United States, and international trade in Latin America. Our principal consultant is the Costa Rican economist who developed the concept of health tourism for the government of Costa Rica and the Costa Rica Tourist Board. HTC 's focus is to facilitate foreign access to the high quality Costa Rican health care system and to provide, cost free, an all-inclusive gateway to that system for the foreign patient.

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Contact Health Tourism Corporation

  Corporación Turismo Salud, S.A.
  (Health Tourism Corporation, Inc.)
  Apartado 56-2070
  Sabanilla, Montes de Oca
  San José, Costa Rica

  Tel/fax: (506) 229-4498

  Email: hlthtour@sol.racsa.co.cr