“It hurts me as to how they send me from one place to another. It’s what I tell my granddaughter: what they do is make fun people my age, they think you don’t feel anymore. It is a mockery; surely they think ‘this old lady will be dying soon’ “.
Those are the words of doña Beatriz Cubillo Fallas, 89, summing up with clarity her frustration of the last two years that has been nothing but full of paperwork for an operation to remove a cataract in her right eye.
Doña Beatriz told her story to La Nacion, of her tribulations since 2017, when she first visited the San Juan de Dios hospital in San Jose, finally getting an appointment for surgery – pay attention! – for Tuesday, November 16, 2021, at 10 in the morning.
It’s not a misprint. There is no error. Doña Beatriz can produce the “comprobante de cita” (appointment receipt) issued by the medical center.
“It’s been a two-year odyssey to end up like this. Mami is a very functional person, she helps me in the kitchen, with the baby, she gives her juice, she cooks. Mami loves to embroider, that’s her entertainment, but it’s so bad that she can no longer,” said Nury Ávila Cubillo, Doña Beatriz’s daughter.
Doña Beatriz was operated for cataracts in her left eye some 11 years ago. That’s why, when he began this journey between hospitals and clinics, she never imagined herself going through what she is.
“I am aware of everything at my age. I go to the movies, although I cannot almost see with the right eye, only lumps,” she said.
For their part, the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) or Caja, recognizes the long waiting times for many for the insured in the state social security program.
Last month, the Constitutional Court, in an unusual ruling, ordered the Caja to design, in no more than six months, a system that allows it to reduce the waiting periods for patients to receive medical treatment or procedures.
Doña Beatriz believes her situation “is an injustice and a total lack of consideration” on the part of the Caja.