Public Health Care vs Private Clinics

Not a lot of action here ...

Perhaps I was not clear enough, or perhaps this is a sensitive subject?

I think everyone here is very healthy

My own experience in the context of visiting relatives in hospitals is that the private services are much better than those provided by the state.  I think you almost entirely answered your question though, as the key difference is quality of care.  If the equipment allows, the treatment itself will more or less be identical.

When I visited my grandmother in hospital at Rose Belle, I was shocked by the lax attitude of the nurses, the arrogance of some of the doctors and the condition of the toilets.  I may have been there at the wrong time of the day, but what I saw did not leave a positive impression on me.  Compare this to my relatives who opt for private care are always seem to be pleased with the level of service.

I think the opinions of Mauritians on this subject is dependent on their own circumstances.  People who can afford to go private will tell you that it is better, while those who can't will tell you the state services are fine.  More importantly, the standards that you judge health services by may be different to your local friends.

For a free service, I think Mauritian healthcare is very good, but I wouldn't cancel your health insurance just yet if I were you.

Great reply Stephenn. Thanks. It's actually very close to what I was thinking.

I recognize everything in your reply but would still like to point out that my friends can afford private health care (with the exception of the case I mentioned earlier) but still opt out since they have all experienced good services from the public health care system (they're Dutch and British expats so know what to compare to).

I suppose "good" is a matter of definition, as you mention, but although I trust my friends I'm still curious about more "third party opinions".

Again, thanks for your reply and if anyone else has a similar (or different) view on things, please let me know ...

And no, I have not cancelled my insurance yet

I see now that my original post should have read my "Expat-Mauritian friends" rather than "Mauritian friends" ... They've lived here for so long I forget that they're actually not from here.

Hello

I'll give you a third opinion on the matter.

Firstly,when it comes to toilets,I think that the private clinics are far better than the public hospitals' ones. That being said,if you have to undergo a CT scan, an MRI or any nuclear medicine kind of treatment (thyroid scan etc), the state hospitals can be as good.The trouble is the personnel can be rough at times, but you cannot always blame them, because if you saw the number of people going in and out, some of them with rude behaviours, you'd be annoyed too.

I use both private and public health because I like to compare the quality of the service and I was quite surprised that the state health isn't that bad.A couple of weeks ago I had a thyroid scan at the Rose Belle Hospital, and to my surprise the Nuclear Medicine department is like a private clinic.The nurse even escorted me to the US(ultra sound) room after the scan,which was in another wing of the hospital,waited patiently till my US was over and she walked to the exit with me.Even the doctor was nice and explained what the findings were, and what had to be done and recommended I come back for a follow up.

It's just that the state health care can have its ups and downs ( I would recommend not to use their maternity facilities though - childbirth), but the Victoria hospital has the best Neo Natal facility on the island.

Bottom line is that you have to experiment on both sides and then you can have an opinion of your own.

Ah, expat-Mauritians, I'll need to modify my comments appropriately then.   I'm certainly surprised that they found the experience acceptable, however I am also glad that my opinions are perhaps not representative of the situation as a whole. One could argue that your friends may have received a better quality of care because they are foreign, as Mauritians know that foreigners have a different expectation of quality of service.

As a Mauritian, I'd rather splash the cash, but the reasoning becomes quite complex, unique to my background and not at all relevant to healthcare issues or this forum.

To stephenn

Am not an expat-Mauritian,very much mauritian, but I like to travel, so we'll just settle for globo-mauritian.

You gave an interesting view on the public health care, but unfortunately people's experience and encounter with this kind of service is personal,sometimes it's good,sometimes it's not as good.

I do know wealthy people here that prefer the public health care to the private ones, especially for cardiac treatments/check up, dialysis, nuclear medicine etc.

You have to find a way to get the best of both worlds:)

Thanks to both of you for your replies. Much appreciated.

Always a pleasure:)