Medical Mission Ecuador 

​What is it and why do we need these?

 

The government of Ecuador would like to ensure that unqualified people are not coming down to their country to play professional and treat patients like a free for all. This is not a trip to allow someone to do skills that they are not trained or qualified to do. In the past, other groups might have come down with college or high school students in tow and allowed them to do things they would never be allowed to do in their home country. That's not good and will not be tolerated. 

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This is especially important because in the past two years, the Ecuadorians have stopped allowing many mission trips to come into their country and we are one of the few still allowed to operate. Failing to comply with their requests for this information could jeopardize our status. 

 

They ask that if you are going to be treating patient's, you have something official (the Apostille) that shows you have qualifications to treat patients. If you are not going to be treating patients, (general volunteer, transporter, runner, etc...) then you can disregard these requirements.

 

If you are going to be administering care to patients (Nurses, MD's, Therapists, Pharm, CRNA, MD) then keep reading.

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The Apostille is just an official state verification of a document, any document that has a state agent's signature. It is essentially a fancy official notary from your state.

 

All the Apostille states is that the document that has been submitted has been signed by an official state authority. That state authority could be a notary public, the secretary of education, the head of the state medical board, whatever. 

 

That's it.

 

For example:

If I take my medical license to the state government, the state will verify that the person who signed the license is in fact the state's agent to do so.  It doesn't verify that you have a license directly, it doesn't verify you went to school, it doesn't verify that I am allowed to practice medicine, etc... All it does is say "Yes, that's the Secretary of State's signature on there" in an official looking way (see my example below)

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Here is who needs the documents:

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If you are treating patient's in Ecuador, you need to have an Apostille given to MME in the last year, depending on your document expiration (it is good for 2 years). This would be for those who are working in their professional field using their professional skills to treat patients.  If you need a certification to do your job at home, then you count on this list.   If you sent it in last year and you are listed in red, then hopefully you made a copy last year (as suggested!) and you can just email / upload a copy from last year. 

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Apostille Document List 2025 (Updated October 2024)

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Here is what you need to have individually Apostilled:

1. Med School / Nursing School / College / Other Diploma (most relevant)

2. CV (shorten to one page for convenience, just list your education and work)

3. Professional license as appropriate 

 

Please supply all 3 if available or whatever is available (scrub techs may not have a license but should have a diploma or certificate from school)

 

Here is how to do it:

In order to do this, you would print out a one page resume / diploma / CV, write a statement on the bottom that says "I certify that the above information is true and this is my signature" and sign it in front of a notary public, who notarizes it. Then you take that to your state agency who does the Apostille, they then "notarize" (or Apostille) the fact that the notary public is in fact a notary public. Seems silly, but the state is just verifying that the person who notarized your paper is a notary. That's it. There is no verification that any information is correct. I could get the newspaper Apostilled if I get my signature notarized saying "This is the newspaper. - Michael Horan" 

 

To find out where to do your Apostille, go to your state government website and search for Apostille. You should find the info there.

 

If you haven't done this, it can take time to mail this in.  If you live near the capital, its easiest just to call to see what you need and go take the document there. In South Carolina it costs $2. Costs vary. 

 

If you have questions, please email medicalmissionecuadorusa@gmail.com

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In addition, you could do what I do, which is store a copy in the cloud somewhere that you can access. I keep a copy of my Passport and credit cards I bring on the trip there as well so if they get stolen, I can easily get to the account numbers and cancel them. 

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Here's where to send it:

 

In 2024, good quality color copies worked for submission. These could be taken with a scanning app on your phone or high quality photo. Please be sure not to take at an angle or parts are missing in the photo. Use common sense-- if you take a bad picture, it will not suffice. 

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I am trying something new this year and will have you do two things (please do BOTH)

1) Upload the documents to this link. Ideally use a google account to do so (will ask for a log in). It is easy if you have a google account. If not, then just email them: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1c9dWMKjbgCyG9kQrkJOPYMD1XNell4ho?usp=drive_link

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2) After upload, ALSO email them as attachments to medicalmissionecuadorUSA@gmail.com and let me know it has been uploaded. I will send them all to Pili at one time. 

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This way if you email it in and for some reason it is not received, a copy still is available in my database. 

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**You should also bring a copy of all documents with you and also leave one at home in case you need it. And save them for the next 2 years.