Hi!
We have come a long way here from 2010. I am an essentially English speaking person and especially during illnesses, I am not comfortable expressing my concerns or symptoms in Portuguese. Yet, healthcare here is still in a nascent stage. We have some excellent hospitals like girassol, with the best doctors and equipments but still the language problems persist. Apart from that, Girassol clinic is mighty expensive. There are some clinics also, but mostly the English speaking docs are general physicians (GPs). They are not specialists in their fields. I had a lot of probs with pediatricians and finally, I am sticking on with a GP who speaks fluent English apart from being a great doctor.