Diving & Hyperbaric Medicine in the Yucatan Peninsula

The Yucatan Peninsula is a paradise for underwater and scuba diving activities. Due to its wealth of reefs, cenotes, and caverns and the diversity of its flora and fauna, it is considered one of the most important centers in the world for such activities. It’s for this reason that many people are counting on support services and personnel to administer medical exams, detect illnesses that warn against diving, and detect secondary illnesses related to diving problems, accidents, and other health-related conditions.

These services are available in the states of Campeche, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo. When choosing a chamber, it is important that the medical personnel, paramedics, and techs offering these services be well trained and that the hyperbaric chamber is duly certified and available 24 hours/day, 365 days/year.

It is not uncommon that general practitioners or inexperienced specialists hinder ready and able candidates from diving, as they are unfamiliar with the criteria of hyperbaric and diving medicine. Due to such circumstances, just as it is important that dive instructors have internationally recognized certification, the hyperbaric medical group should have nationally and internationally recognized certifications. It is important that physicians at the hyperbaric chamber be well trained and aware of diving qualifications, and they recognize people with medical conditions that are contraindications to diving, such as asthma and other upper respiratory illnesses.

Problems such as decompression illness or arterial gas emboli are treated only in hyperbaric chambers. Treatment generally consists in increasing the pressure up to 1.8 times the atmospheric pressure at sea level and in breathing pure oxygen for pre-established periods of five hours. These guidelines have been established by the United States Navy and have been adopted internationally for initial treatment protocol. In the initial phase of treatment the patient should be lying down breathing oxygen by mask. In severe cases the medical staff will specify what is best for the patient, such as intravenous solutions, medicine for pain, nausea or whatever is necessary.

In areas where there are no hyperbaric chambers it is best to have telephone contacts on hand to locate transport as quickly as possible and avoid changes in altitude. Dive centers should have these emergency protocols and guidelines already in place.