retirement

I have been looking at various places for my retirement.
I liked the sound of Nicaragua but have since read that crime is rife, medical attention practically non-existant and all in all it is not the place to retire to.
Does any of the above bear any resemblance to the real situation?
Regards
Jennie

Back in January I was in San Juan del Sur. A friend had a case of bronchitis. He was 62. He had no Nicaraguan health insurance. He coughed so much he burst a blood vessel in his lung and developed pneumonia. He went to a medical doctor in Managua. He had a complete check up..blood work, X-rays, EKG, scan, etc plus medicine. The total bill was about $235. He recuperated at home.

Another guy told me had had passed a kidney stone and the local doctor in San Juan charged was $15.

I was with a friend who had extreme pain in her intestine. I went with her to the ER room at Rivas. We expected a certain amount of triage; however, after seeing this ER head nurse keep passing us by we left. We lucked out finding the retired American doctor in San Juan. He gave her some antibiotics and all turned out OK. We later learned the procedure is you just do not show up at an ER. You call your personal doctor and they meet you there.

There is some good doctors in Managua. There is a huge Baptist Hospital there. I'd say plan for the worst and hope for the best. Some of these doctors have trained in Europe and the USA.

Nicaragua is actually the safest country in Central American. There are certain areas of Managua that are dangerous, but that can be said of any large city.

I would say go on down and network with the retirees there and ask questions. It might be for you and then again it might not. If you do not like it consider it a nice vacation. The people are friendly.

Cheers..John