Doctors flee Puerto Rico for US mainland
Thursday, April 18, 2013
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Going to the doctor in Puerto Rico has for
years often meant getting in line. Now, it might mean getting on a
plane.
A medical exodus is taking place in the Caribbean territory as doctors
and nurses flee for the US mainland, seeking higher salaries and better
reimbursement from insurers. Many of their patients, frustrated by long
waits and a scarcity of specialists, are finding they have no choice but
to follow them off the island.
Among them is Marilu Flores, a 60-year-old rural mail carrier who is battling advanced rheumatoid arthritis.
She not only is flying to the US mainland to receive treatment; she's moving to Texas.
"The best doctors left a long time ago," she said.
In the last five years, the number of doctors in Puerto Rico has dropped
by 13 per cent, from 11,397 to 9,950, according to the island's Medical
Licensing and Studies Board. The biggest losses are primary care
physicians and specialists within a specialty, such as thoracic
oncologists.
Of the roughly 400 cardiologists who practised in Puerto Rico about five
years ago, only about 150 remain. The number of anaesthesiologists has
dropped from roughly 300 to about 100 in roughly the same time period,
said Dr Eduardo Ibarra, president of the island's Association of
Surgeons.
"Same with the neurosurgeons. They don't even number 20 now," Ibarra said. "There are no specialised surgeons in certain areas."
Those seeking a thoracic oncologist, for example, have to go to Florida, if they can afford it.
"It's truly catastrophic," he said.
The exodus of doctors is part of a larger wave of professionals who have
left the US island territory in recent years, settling in states such
as Florida and New York, where there is a big demand for bilingual
workers, especially police and nurses. Many Puerto Ricans also seek to
escape a wave of violent crime and higher cost of living. Almost a
million more Puerto Ricans now live on the mainland than on the island.
Medical professionals say they expect the situation will worsen.
President Barack Obama's new health care law means US states will soon
seek more doctors amid an influx of patients, said Dr Guillermo Tirado,
an internal medicine specialist in Puerto Rico.
"All states are preparing to cull a lot of doctors from Puerto Rico," he
said. "If we have a big exodus now, we're going to see it get worse ...
There hasn't been a revolution yet because the escape valve is to buy a
plane ticket to Orlando," referring to the many patients who fly to the
US for treatment if they can afford it.
Puerto Rico currently does not meet federal recommendations on the number and types of doctors needed per capita, Tirado said.
The island of 3.7 million people has no more than two paediatric
neuro-surgeons, even though guidelines state there should be at least
one paediatric neurosurgeon per roughly 80,000 people, he said.
Puerto Rico also lacks 93 full-time primary care physicians to
adequately cover the medical needs of the population, according to
statistics from the US Health Resources and Services Administration,
which tracks areas suffering from a shortage of health professionals. Of
the island's 78 municipalities, 37 need more health care professionals,
including the capital of San Juan and Ponce, the island's second
largest city. The island has roughly 7,000 primary care physicians,
Ibarra said.
At the same time, the island's medical tourism industry is growing, with
two new hospitals being built in Manati and Bayamon, catering mostly to
foreigners from elsewhere in the Caribbean, and even some from the US
mainland, said Pedro Pierluisi, the island's representative in Congress
who has limited voting powers. "In a way, it's inconsistent," he said.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Doctors-flee-Puerto-Rico-for-US-mainland_14092282#ixzz2Qq5g1LYw
