Faro del Mayab Hospital in Merida, Yucatán - REVIEW

We recently transitioned all our healthcare from the United States to Mexico. We live here full time…so time to find doctors in Yucatán. 

We searched for recommendations on Doctoralia and Facebook. We found our primary care physician Dra Zaide, who specializes in Internal medicine, had stellar reviews.  We scheduled our appointments through Doctoralia and went to her office, which is in Faro del Mayab Hospital in Merida. We had previously visited the Faro del Mayab Hospital for emergency services in 2024 and was impressed by the excellent care we received.  The fact that the doctors and healthcare staff speak English was a plus. 

During our initial visit with Dra Zaide, my husband (PlayaWeatherman) discussed having back pain that was increasingly getting worse. Based on her assessment, she referred him to an orthopedic doctor. In addition, she requested a back X-ray so he would have it available for his appointment with Dr Carlos Reyes De Caceres, the orthopedic doctor. He looked at the X-ray and immediately messaged his spine specialist/surgeon. They agreed my husband needed additional X-rays and an MRI before his appointment with Dr Ricardo Jose Guillermo Yanez. 

Scheduling all the X-rays and MRI were easy as they could be done right there at Faro. Did I mention that all these doctors and specialists are located at Faro. We absolutely LOVE having all our healthcare needs met in one place. The hospital has the Emergency Center (Urgencias) and all lab work, X-rays, MRIs, ultrasounds, etc. conveniently located on the ground floor (planta baja - PB). The hospital facilities are on floors 2-6 and doctors’ offices on floors 7-9. 

Back (😉) to my husband’s spine. The appointment with Dr Ricardo Jose Guillermo Yanez was greatly facilitated since all his records were in the Faro patient portal system.  Upon reviewing all the documentation and test/scan results, he recommended spinal surgery since that was the only way to permanently fix the problem.  My husband could try physical therapy and medications…but those would just mask the problem and not solve it.  So, with much discussion and weighing the pros and cons, we decided to schedule the surgery for the following week.

The day of surgery went very smoothly, and Dr Ricardo Jose Guillermo Yanez visited me in the waiting area to inform me that everything went well and that my husband was in recovery.  Within a couple hours he was in his private hospital room.   He stayed 2 nights, and I was able to stay with him  the entire time, and then he was discharged.  

The treatment he received throughout the entire process was exemplary.  And to top it all off, Dr Ricardo Jose Guillermo Yanez made a house call the next week since my husband was not mobile enough to get to the doctor’s office…what service!  My husband is up and running now; you would never believe that he had recent back surgery. We are more than pleased with our decision to move forward with the surgery and over the moon about the results.

 

It goes without saying, We highly recommend Faro Hospital and all the doctors and services there.

SIDE NOTE…the hospital is beautiful. And the hospital rooms remind us of a five-star resort. The staff keep the entire facility spotless. But before I finish the post, I want to mention the food. The patients eat very well, and in fact, my husband is plant-based. The hospital made sure he received healthy, plant-based food during his stay.  The downside at Faro is they do not have a cafeteria where visitors and family can purchase healthy food, beverages or snacks.  They do have a Starbucks type small cafe, but it’s just snacks.  Nothing that you would consider nutritional. There are a couple of restaurants across the street, but it’s not very convenient.  We did order take out from PF Chang which was delivered directly to the hospital.

For the family members of patients, they can order food from the patient’s room from a special QR code and phone number posted in the room.  Unfortunately, we did not use this service, as all the information was in Spanish, and even with our translation app, we were not able to understand the instructions.  That’s not the hospital’s problem, but ours. 

One more item of business I want to share is payment.  Faro will want all labs and tests paid at the time of service.  And in terms of my husband’s surgery, a deposit was required before surgery and the balance was paid before discharge.  We put all expenses on our credit card and obtained receipts so that we can provide the insurance company with all our documentation for reimbursement.  Almost the entire invoice was covered by our insurance company.  The bottom line: you will need to pay for all services in advance. 

 

I’m providing some photos below of our patient and his room.  I hope this review helps anyone considering using Faro for their healthcare needs. 

 

It’s the best hospital in Merida, Yucatan!