Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
or laboratory tests need doing, whereas a government-run doctor at the local clinic will see
you for $5.
While travel insurance may cover costs, it will only do so after you file a claim on your
return; you still need to be able to access sufficient funds to cover the bills at the time.
Many doctors in the main cities have trained in the US at some stage and so speak good
English. The US Embassy has a list of bilingual doctors in Panama City on its website (
panama.usembassy.gov/medical2010.html ) .
There is now thirty-day free medical cover for foreign tourists entering via Tocumen Inter-
national Airport. You are likely to be handed a brochure on arrival and a list of participating
clinics and hospitals can be found on the tourist office website (
visitpanama.com/compon-
ent/k2/item/4703.html ) .
< Back to Basics
THE MEDIA
Aside from one government TV channel and one radio station, the media in Panama
is privately owned. The five national daily Spanish-language news--papers - and three
Chinese-language papers - are widely available from street vendors in urban areas, and
in super-markets countrywide, while it's hard to escape TV in Panama - screens adorn
most eating and drinking establishments, even upmarket restaurants, and are standard
in most hotels.
Newspapers
The most respected paper is La Prensa ( prensa.com ) , which also produces informative
supplements with in-depth writing and interesting features on tourism, history and culture. La
Estrella de Panamá (
laestrella.com.pa ) and Panamá América (
pa-digital.com.pa ) also
count as “quality press”, with El Siglo (
elsiglo.com ) and La Crítica (
critica.com.pa ), the
popular tabloid options.
Given the large US expat population, there is no shortage of English-language news . Aside
from the imported Miami Herald International Edition and USA Today , there is the online
The Panama News ( thepanamanews.com ), which has the mantra “writing for thinking
people not cattle”. It pulls no punches and frequently contains features that border on the
slanderous but, picking through them with healthy scepticism, you will gain some valuable
insights into the dirty side of politics and business.
Liberally sprinkled round hotel lobbies and restaurants around the country, the free bilingual
weekly The Visitor/El Visitante ( thevisitorpanama.com ) offers a bland summary of
Panamanian news, some features and a decent listings section of events in the main tourist
zones of Panama City, Bocas and Boquete. The latter two expat enclaves also produce free
 
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