$66 million-plus added to Emergency Health Fund

This year, the Emergency Fund started with a budget of approximately $74,620,890 and has increased to a total of $207,280,250.
- A.M. Costa Rica illustrative photo -

Published Tuesday, October 20, 2020

$66 million-plus added to
Emergency Health Fund

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The Comptroller General approved an additional budget of approximately $66,329,680 for the Social Security Contingency Fund, also known as the Emergency Health Fund.

This year, the fund started with a budget of $74,620,890 and has increased to a total of $207,280,250, Luis Diego Calderón, financial manager of social security said.

According to Social Security, as of October 14, approximately $131,966,214 had already been used for the expenses caused by the covid-19 health emergency.

Of that amount, 87% was spent on the purchase of respirators, personal protective equipment and tests to diagnose covid-19.

Additionally, a portion of the capital was used for improvements to the Covid Hospital, the medical towers of Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia hospital and adjustments in the National Psychiatric Hospital to establish an area for covid-19 patients.

Due to the huge amounts of spending that have been made in response to the pandemic, Social Security has proposed to request another extra budget of approximately $20,728,025 to cover the expenses for the rest of this year.

The Fund is renewed every year to address the possible responsibilities that Social Security must assume, whether due to the pandemic or another national emergency.

For 2021, the budget for the emergency fund would start at approximately $99,494,520, which is pending approval by the Comptroller General.

Meanwhile, the number of cases continues to rise in Costa Rica.

On Monday, the Ministry of Health reported the following updated statistics of the virus contagion in the country:

• 632 new covid-19 cases, bringing the total to 36,921 active cases.
• 16,048 foreign-born people have been infected with a total of 97,075 cases since March, approximately 16.5% of the total cases. Of these, authorities confirmed the death of 32 foreign-born patients.

• 551 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 214 patients are in ICU’s in delicate health conditions (ages range from a 1-year-old to a 91-year-old). And 337 patients are in recovery rooms. Many of the remaining infected patients are quarantined in their homes.

• 59,580 coronavirus patients have fully recovered, which is a 61.4% recovery rate of the total cases since March.

• 1,204 deaths of people infected with covid-19, approximately 1.2% death rate of the total cases since March. Of these 458 women and 746 men. The ages range from a 9-year-old to a 100-year-old person.

Since Friday, Oct. 16, authorities stopped providing the updated statistics on people who have been ruled out and the number of medical covid-19 tests that have been made.

Readers can see the updated number of total patients in each district at the National Distance Education University on its Covid-19 Map.

As of Monday night, the pandemic has killed 1,118,635 patients worldwide, according to recent statistics reported by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering, CSSE, at Johns Hopkins University.

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Should health authorities use part of the emergency fund for establishing mass testing sites for covid-19 diagnosis? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com