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Published Tuesday, December 15, 2020
$7 million-plus budgeted to improve
public health in Guanacaste
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Social Security announced a budget of $7,058,647 for construction, improvements and equipment purchased for clinics and public hospitals in Guanacaste Province until 2025.
The projects to be built include new clinics in the districts of Bagaces, Liberia, Carrillo and Nicoya, Guadalupe, La Costa, Barrio Unión, Sámara and Villarreal, among others.
The budget also includes projects that were built in 2018, but most of the capital was allocated to projects that are still under development, Social Security said in its statement.
According to information provided by Social Security, among the projects that are included in the budget and process of construction are:
• Clinic in Santa Cruz.
• Peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis unit at Enrique Baltodano Briceño hospital.
• Dialysis and palliative care unit at Cañas clinic.
• Construction and equipping of the Enrique Baltodano Briceño hospital emergency room.
Last week health authorities announced the general balance of investments, actions and achievements made in facing the national health emergency caused by covid-19.
Among the main actions taken this year has been the investment in infrastructure, medical staff, equipment and medical supplies that reached the budget of $3,313,384,000.
In infrastructure, 348 projects were developed. Among the most important were:
• The construction of the East Tower of the Calderón Guardia Hospital.
• A new emergency room in San Carlos Hospital.
• Gastroenterology room in México Hospital.
• Two new public clinics, one in San Isidro and another in Santa Bárbara, both in Heredia Province.
• New Maintenance Service at Alajuela Hospital.
• Construction of the pharmacy warehouse of Hospital Calderón Guardia.
• The Covid Hospital.
• Exclusive areas for the care of covid patients in the Psychiatric, Children's, Mexico, Limón, Guápiles and Ciudad Quesada hospitals, among others.
Other investments made by Social Security in response to the pandemic were the purchase of equipment, beds, medicines and medical supplies.
Regarding the expectations for next year, the authorities have budgeted more than $7.9 billion to continue facing the pandemic, Social Security said.
This year, hospitals have experienced a high number of patients, 9.4 million people have required medical attention since March. Of these, more than 3,250,000 were due to covid-19.
As long as it has not been possible to apply the covid-19 vaccine to control the spread of the virus in the population, the authorities will continue to report an increase in infections.
The Ministry of Health provided the most up-to-date statistics on Monday, as follows:
• 549 new covid-19 cases, bringing the total to 32,772 active cases.
• 20,842 foreign-born people have been infected, totaling 153,169 cases since March, approximately 13.6% of the total cases. Of these, authorities confirmed the death of 32 foreign-born patients. But since October, there is no updated information about foreign-born deaths due to covid-19.
• 607 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 237 patients are in ICU’s in delicate health conditions (ages range from 1 to 89-years-old). And 370 patients are in recovery rooms. Many of the remaining infected patients are quarantined in their homes.
• 118,511 coronavirus patients have fully recovered, which is a 73% recovery rate of the total cases since March.
• 440,279 covid-19 tests have been performed in Costa Rica since March, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering of Johns Hopkins University.
• 1,936 deaths of people infected with covid-19, approximately 1.3% death rate of the total cases since March. Of these 728 women and 1,208 men. The ages range from a 9-year-old to a 101-year-old person.
Readers can see the updated number of total
patients in each district at the National
Distance Education University on its Covid-19 Map.
According to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering, CSSE, at Johns Hopkins University, the pandemic has killed 1,630,878 people worldwide.
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What should the authorities implement in order to avoid the increase in covid-19 cases? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com
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