The Dominican Republic has a two-track health system: a public network (free, overcrowded, Spanish-only, fine for a broken finger if you can't pay but not where you want to be for anything serious) and a private network (US$50–200 for a consult, modern, often English-speaking, the only place a sensible tourist should land). Every region we cover has at least one private clinic capable of stabilising a serious case and either treating you locally or arranging transfer to Santo Domingo or Santiago, where the country's best hospitals are concentrated.
Three rules apply everywhere. First: always go to a private hospital. Second: bring your passport and travel-insurance card — private hospitals require a credit card on file at admission even if insurance ultimately pays. Third: dial 911 for emergencies; it works nationwide and dispatches both ambulance and police.
North Coast — Puerto Plata, Sosua, Cabarete
North Coast · Puerto Plata
Centro Médico Bournigal
Location: Puerto Plata city centre, Calle Antera Mota.
Specialties: Full-service hospital with 24-hour ER, ICU, cardiac unit, maternity, dive-medicine consults.
Languages: Spanish primary; many doctors speak English, some German.
✓ Pros: The most-recommended hospital for tourists on the entire north coast. Accepts most international travel insurance directly. Strong dive-medicine reputation. Helipad on-site.
✗ Cons: ER waits can hit 1–2 hours on weekends, parking is tight, and reception staff don't always speak English even when doctors do.
If you only remember one name on the north coast, make it this one. The ER triages tourists quickly and the cashier desk is used to dealing with international insurance card-by-card.
North Coast · Puerto Plata
HOMS Puerto Plata (Hospiten Puerto Plata)
Location: Avenida Manolo Tavarez Justo, near the cruise port turn-off.
Specialties: ER, imaging, orthopaedics, general surgery, partnered with Santiago HOMS for tertiary cases.
Languages: English routinely available at reception and ER.
✓ Pros: Newer facility, modern CT and MRI on-site, English-speaking front desk, fast transfer protocol to Santiago HOMS for complex cases.
✗ Cons: Pricier than Bournigal for self-pay, fewer dedicated dive-medicine specialists, smaller ICU.
The cruise-passenger default. Most ship doctors send passengers here when shore-side care is needed.
Punta Cana & Bavaro
East Coast · Bavaro
Hospiten Bavaro
Location: Carretera Veron-Punta Cana, near the all-inclusive resort strip.
Specialties: Full ER, ICU, surgery, paediatrics, dive medicine, and the busiest tourist clinic in the country.
Languages: English, French, German, Russian, Italian on staff.
✓ Pros: Direct billing to almost every major international travel insurer (Allianz, AXA, IMG, GeoBlue, World Nomads). On-site pharmacy, dedicated tourist coordinator.
✗ Cons: Resorts have referral kickback deals here, so first-quote pricing can be aggressive; ER waits can exceed 90 minutes in high season; ambulance call-outs from resorts come with a steep markup.
If your resort calls a doctor for you, they will almost certainly send you here. Confirm with your insurer first — they may want IMG Punta Cana instead.
East Coast · Punta Cana
IMG Punta Cana (International Medical Group)
Location: Avenida España, Punta Cana village.
Specialties: Outpatient clinic plus emergency stabilisation, dive injuries, GI bugs, dehydration IVs.
Languages: English primary in the tourist wing.
✓ Pros: Faster than Hospiten for non-life-threatening complaints, transparent USD pricing on the website, makes house calls to resorts.
✗ Cons: Not a full hospital — anything requiring surgery or ICU transfers to Hospiten or Centro Médico Punta Cana. House-call fee can hit US$300.
East Coast · Punta Cana
Centro Médico Punta Cana
Location: Avenida Baráhona, Friusa.
Specialties: Full hospital with cardiac cath lab, ICU, dialysis, maternity.
Languages: Spanish primary, English on request.
✓ Pros: Locally regarded as the strongest Dominican-owned hospital in the east; pricing often 20–30% below Hospiten for the same procedure.
✗ Cons: Less polished tourist experience, fewer multilingual staff at reception, paperwork in Spanish.
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo · National Capital
CEDIMAT
Location: Plaza de la Salud campus, Arturo Logroño.
Specialties: Cardiothoracic surgery, oncology, neurosurgery, transplant medicine.
Languages: English available across specialties.
✓ Pros: Generally considered the best hospital in the Caribbean. JCI-accredited, US-trained specialists, advanced imaging, real ICU capacity.
✗ Cons: Expensive by DR standards, appointment-driven culture for non-emergency care, parking is a daily ordeal.
Where serious cases get transferred. If you're being moved from a regional hospital for a heart attack, stroke, or major trauma, this is usually the destination.
Santo Domingo · National Capital
Hospital General de la Plaza de la Salud (HGPS)
Location: Plaza de la Salud campus, adjacent to CEDIMAT.
Specialties: General medicine, surgery, trauma, paediatrics.
✓ Pros: Mid-priced relative to CEDIMAT, strong surgical reputation, well-equipped ER.
✗ Cons: Busier than CEDIMAT and the ER feels it; fewer English-speaking nurses on the floors.
Santo Domingo · National Capital
Centro Médico UCE
Location: Av. Máximo Gómez, central Santo Domingo.
Specialties: University teaching hospital, broad specialty coverage, 24h ER.
✓ Pros: Central location, lower prices than CEDIMAT, decent ER throughput.
✗ Cons: Older facilities in some wings, mixed reviews on housekeeping, English availability inconsistent.
Santiago & the Cibao
Santiago · Cibao Region
HOMS — Hospital Metropolitano de Santiago
Location: Autopista Duarte km 2.8, Santiago.
Specialties: The northern equivalent of CEDIMAT — cardiac surgery, oncology, advanced imaging, dedicated tourist services.
✓ Pros: JCI-accredited, modern, helipad, formal English-speaking patient services. Strong partner network with Hospiten and Bournigal for transfers.
✗ Cons: 2–2.5 hours from the north-coast beach towns, parking spirals fill on weekends, premium pricing.
The default tertiary hospital for the entire north and the interior. If you're in Samana, Cabarete, or Las Terrenas with something serious, you're going here.
Santiago · Cibao Region
Clínica Cabral y Báez
Location: Calle 30 de Marzo, Santiago centre.
Specialties: Long-established private hospital, broad coverage.
✓ Pros: Cheaper than HOMS, well-known to locals, decent surgical reputation.
✗ Cons: Older facility, less tourist-oriented, limited English.
Samana
Samana Peninsula
Hospital Provincial Leopoldo Pou (Samana)
Location: Santa Bárbara de Samana town.
Specialties: Public hospital — basic ER, stabilisation only.
✓ Pros: Free, geographically closest option for anyone on the peninsula, can stabilise and arrange transfer.
✗ Cons: Limited equipment, Spanish-only, overcrowded. Anything more than stitches or basic IV care needs transfer to Santiago HOMS — a 2.5–3 hour drive.
The Samana gap is real. For anything serious, plan on a transfer south. Travel insurance with medical-evacuation coverage matters more here than anywhere else in the country.
Samana · Las Terrenas
Centro Médico San Vicente
Location: Calle Duarte, Las Terrenas.
Specialties: Private outpatient clinic, urgent care, basic ER.
✓ Pros: The best option in Las Terrenas itself, French and English usually available, used to expat patients.
✗ Cons: Not a hospital — surgery and ICU cases transfer out, often to Santiago.
Bayahibe & La Romana
East · La Romana
Centro Médico Central Romana
Location: Inside Central Romana sugar-company complex, La Romana.
Specialties: Full hospital — ICU, cardiac, surgery, trauma, paediatrics, dive medicine.
✓ Pros: One of the best-regarded hospitals in the country and the default for Bayahibe / Casa de Campo / La Romana. The sugar company funds it well; equipment is current; doctors are senior.
✗ Cons: Access procedure can confuse first-timers — you pass through the Central Romana gate. ER pricing for tourists has crept up.
If you're staying at Casa de Campo, Dreams La Romana, or anywhere in Bayahibe, this is your hospital.
Travel Insurance & Medical Evacuation
The DR's private hospitals are good, but a serious case — spinal injury, complex cardiac event, severe burn — often warrants evacuation to Miami or San Juan. That's the part that bankrupts uninsured travellers. A few rules:
- Buy travel insurance with at least US$100,000 medical and US$250,000 evacuation coverage. Allianz, IMG, GeoBlue, World Nomads, and SafetyWing all sell DR-valid policies.
- Confirm direct billing before you need it. Hospiten Bavaro and Centro Médico Bournigal direct-bill the major US/EU insurers; smaller clinics will demand payment up front and you'll claim reimbursement later.
- Carry the insurance card and a printed policy summary. Phone-only access has bitten travellers when their data plan dies in the ER.
- For divers, add a DAN (Divers Alert Network) membership — it covers chamber rides specifically, which standard policies often won't.
Pharmacies & Common Medications
Pharmacies in the DR are abundant, well-stocked, and sell many prescription-only US drugs over the counter (antibiotics, antifungals, common cardiac meds). The big chains are everywhere:
- Farmacia Carol — the largest national chain, 24-hour locations in every major city, accepts cards, delivers.
- Los Hidalgos — second-largest chain, good prices, similarly ubiquitous.
- Farmax — common in Santo Domingo and Santiago, strong on imported brands.
- GBC (Grupo Botica del Caribe) — widespread, especially in resort towns.
Common needs locals and tourists buy at the counter: rehydration salts (Pedialyte or Suero Oral), Imodium-equivalents for traveller's stomach, ibuprofen, mild antibiotics for skin infections, and 50 SPF mineral sunscreen (yes — reef-safe brands are stocked in tourist-town pharmacies).