Healthcare in Ecuador: Is Ecuador a good destination for medical and dental care?
- Victor Carreño
- Jan 15, 2022
- 3 min read
As we ring in the new year in 2022, more expats than ever have their eye on Ecuador as a potential country for retirement. As a native Ecuadorian, I feel great pride that my country has topped so many “best retirement destination” lists in the past several years. But many potential expats often share the same question: What is the quality of medical and dental care in Ecuador? To answer that question, let’s look at how health care in Ecuador has evolved in the past several years.
While South American countries have often been presented in North American media as “third-world”, the reality is that the medical landscape has evolved at lightning speed in Ecuador over the last two decades. One important catalyst for this change was the 2007 creation of the Ecuadorian Secretariat for Higher Education (SENESCYT). Between 2007-2017, SENESCYT invested $800 million in international scholarships for over 10,000 Ecuadorian professionals in the medical and STEM fields. This scholarship program was intended to counteract the ingrained class system and the “brain drain” phenomenon that had stymied development in these fields for many years. Prior to 2007, the few international scholarship opportunities were generally reserved for the powerful and connected, and not necessarily the most qualified candidates in Ecuador. But the only requirements to receive a SENESCYT scholarship were: gain admission to a qualified postgraduate program at one of the world’s top universities, and commit to return to Ecuador after graduation to work in either the private or public sector. Additionally, from 2007-2017, over $13 billion was invested in the country’s healthcare infrastructure.
