Seventeen years ago Costa Rica’s first private ambulance company appeared, and since then this number has increased to about a dozen companies. While all work in the world of emergency response and mobilization of patients, the differences between them abound in terms of price, coverage and type of plans and services they provide.
The list of bidders to integrate include, Emergency Medical, Pro-Life, Life Support Paramedics and Semer.
Some of them offer shuttle service patients only in the greater metropolitan area. Others, however, have care agreements in rural areas and even abroad.
Companies such as Emergency Medical deal exclusively with the system of affiliations, whereby customers pay a monthly fee to use the service when required.
This amount includes any medications that the unit staff will use to provide advanced support to the patient.
In contrast, the other three companies mentioned above have this membership system but also charge for each transfer service from a home or business to the hospital or clinic, if the customer does not pay monthly.
Representatives of these companies claim that their strengths are based on readiness, experience and quality.
On this last point, Carlos Monge, general manager of Emergency Medicine, explained that each of its ambulances has a doctor.
In addition, each ambulance is equipped with cardiac monitor, defibrillator (to restore heart rhythm), oxygen, splints and medicine, as well as other emergency medical equipment.
This company has agreements in most Latin American countries affiliated with the Medical Emergencies.
Esteban Peña, commercial director of the ProLife company, said his client last year opened a specialty clinic to supplement the ambulance service.
This complex is located in Sabanilla Montes de Oca and from there, the company has room for crash victims (for emergency care), psychology, laboratory and ultrasound, among other services.
Maria de los Angeles Calderon, Semer Paramedics said that this company provides transportation by plane thanks to an agreement with an airline. This service, however, is charged separately.
Between the supply of advertising services company, mention the attention of special events and the care of patients. Delly Rivera, Life Support in Costa Rica, said that they have portable incubators for newborns.
Coverage of the company extends to the entire Greater Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica, Panama City and Colon in Panama and Colombia, as announced in its website. Moreover, they indicate that they are able to engage in direct communication with emergency rooms of several private hospitals.
