QCOSTARICA – Only nine critical intensive care beds were unoccupied at 1 pm this Tuesday (December 22) in the hospitals of the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS). – Costa Rican Social Security Fund.
Through a message from the press office, the CCSS or Caja reported that there were two bed for very seriously ill patients in the San Juan de Dios; four in the Calderón Guardia; two at the Specialized Care Center for Covid-19 Patients (Ceaco), in San Jose; and one at the Escalante Pradilla Hospital, in Pérez Zeledón
The entity has 359 intensive care beds to combat covid-19. Of these, 116 are for patients in a more delicate situation and, therefore, known as critical intensive care.
The CCSS reminded that these numbers are highly variable and can change at any time with the recovery or death of patients.
The most critical point was reached Saturday night (December 19) when there were no available beds for the most delicate patients and four of them were treated in a severe (non-critical) intensive care unit.
The saturation in the public medical centers motivated five union organizations in the health sector to request the sector minister, Daniel Salas, to order the confinement of the population.
“We demand to increase restrictive measures; one possibility is immediate confinement from now until the New Year, to give a break to the exhausted hospital network and its staff,” they said.