Medical care along Coastal and Central routes

[dfox]

I will be walking the Coastal and Central routes starting mid-May. There are much information on medical care on Camino Francis (CF).

#1 - Is the medical care on CP as (easily) accessible as on CF?
#2 - How costly is it?

Many thanks,

 

[Pilger99]

Where are you from? Medical care for EU people is generally free.
If you go to a private doctor or hospital in Spain/Portugal you'll have to pay, but less than e.g. in France or Germany, where the salary is much higher.
If you want your expenses covered check your health insurance.

Centro medico for basic needs is a very common thing in Spain and all expenses are covered by your EHIC (eropean health insurance card). So far I had no need to look for it in Portugal.

 

[MaineSally]

I will be walking the Coastal and Central routes starting mid-May. There are much information on medical care on Camino Francis (CF).

#1 - Is the medical care on CP as (easily) accessible as on CF?
#2 - How costly is it?

Many thanks,

I was five days in to my trek from Lisbon to Santiago when I knew I was in trouble. Day three my big toes were red, blisters on my cuticles and hematomas under big toe nails. I switched to chacos sandals to relieve pressure and that helped my toes but then created blisters on the outside of both feet! I fought having to stop but now had no good options. Went to the ER in Tomar and they put me on antibiotics and ibuprofen and basically said I needed to do my Camino another time. Five twenty mile days in a row just messed with my feet and the heat didn’t help. Beginning of April. Never had such long daily mileages on the CF. I took the train to Lisbon that afternoon and caught a flight back to Boston the next day. Total out of pocket costs for ER visit and meds...$80.00 US dollars. The staff was wonderful though the evening ER waits can be as long as eight hours to be seen. So...on my third attempt to be seen on the third MORNING in Tomar (8:00am) I was the only one waiting to be seen. Evening hours see the kids that came home from school sick or adults who didn’t want to miss work. I even benefitted from the morning shift change! The hotelier at Residencial Avenida couldn’t have been more accommodating and compassionate. António Pieres is the owner, and I will stay at his place again in mid September when I intend to return to finish what I had started. I will be going with fewer toenails, so hopefully that won’t create an issue! So...great care at a very reasonable price. Had to pay cash.

 

[Robert Long]

We were in Pontevedra when one of our crew needed medical help. The desk at our hotel sent us to a local clinic. Even though they asked for a credit card, the care was free, but the wait was long It was a simple case of intestinal illness. The nurse practitioner we saw was excellent. While she said she had no English, in the end that was not the case. We had loaded Google Translate with all the important info, so we could communicate the problem.

No Worries

Buen Camino - Bob

 

[MaineSally]

I should note that I did take out trip insurance with health care coverage and trip cxl/interruption. My costs will be reimbursed, however, $80.00 is a drop in the bucket compared to U. S. costs. Checking into an emergency room is a minimum of $750.00, and it can only go up from there! I heavily recommend travel insurance!

 

[JohnBellantoni]

After the ageing, some are surrounded by the diseases which need long term treatments and the costs related to its medical expenses is also high. In such case the option of taking the health insurance plan is best and effective. The company The Health Exchange Agency provides these plans. My uncle also enrolled there for health plans.