QCOSTARICA – Private medical centers reiterated this week their willingness to support the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) in the care of non-covid-19 patients, offering relief to tthe saturated public hospital system.
The aid is to treat pathologies not related to the pandemic, as already stipulated in the national guidelines.
This offer is made after the CCSS reported on Monday, due to the sharp increase in covid-19 cases this past week, that hospitals are close to 100% occupancy and in emergencies this Sunday it reached 104%.
The situation is not only due to the increase in those infected by the new coronavirus but also by other pathologies. So much is the situation that the president of the Caja, Román Macaya, spoke on Tuesday of “two waves”, one covid and another due to chronic diseases, trauma, accidents and other types of violence.
“This is putting pressure on the hospital service in a different way than the peak in May, because in May we did not have that second ‘no covid’ wave,” stressed Macaya.
At noon on Tuesday, 1,271 people with covid-19 remained hospitalized in public hospitals, 470 of them in intensive care.
Massimo Manzi, executive director of the Costa Rican Chamber of Health, assured that the private hospital system has the capacity for both infrastructure and human resources, and is fully willing to support.
Manzi, who represents private centers, recalled that previously the sector confirmed the availability of 122 beds in 13 private medical centers inside and outside the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM).
For him, this coordination would help to cope with the pandemic.
“We believe that together we can provide more timely care to (non-covid) patients who are requiring hospital services at a time when the situation is complicated by the impact of the delta variant and other situations that affect the population and that are causing an increase in the internments,” pointed out Manzi.
He assured that they can respond “quickly and efficiently” to that non-covid wave that Macaya spoke of.
This position was confirmed in a letter sent to the general manager of the Caja, Roberto Cervantes, by the medical directors of the CIMA, Clínica Bíblica, La Católica, Metropolitano and UNIBE hospitals.
“Outsourcing health services is not new and has been successful, as evidenced by the work of many years in the administration and operation of the Ebáis”, indicates a statement from these health centers.
Since the end of May, the National Emergency Commission (CNE) earmarked ¢3 billion colones to use these private services if necessary, for patients with less complex conditions and requiring hospitalizations of less than five days could be transferred from public to private hospitals.
