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AMCostaRica© 
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  Of the 53,000-plus employees, 42 are on strike and are participating in protests. - Social Security photo - |
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 Published Thursday, October 8, 2020 Healthcare assistance continues
despite road blockades By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Hospitals, clinics, drugstores and other medical services offered by Social Security will continue attending patients and the general public despite the road blockades. Former deputies José Miguel Corrales and Célimo Guido created the group Movimiento Rescate Nacional (National Rescue Organization in English) which has organized roadblocks in several cities around the country. These actions are to show the government how the country rejects their plan to increase taxes as part of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund, IMF, for a loan of $1.75 billion. However, following the announcement by President Carlos Alvarado on Sunday, that the tax plan to the IMF was withdrawn, the protests have not ended. According to Social Security records, 42 employees are on strike and are participating in protests, the rest of the employees continue their work with regular hours. Of the 42 employees in the strike, 17 are part of the Medical Management department, 24 of the Logistics Management department and 1 of the Financial department. Social Security has approximately 53,500 employees of which doctors and nurses are on the front lines of the battle against the pandemic. While people are out on the streets protesting, cases of covid-19 continue to be on the rise. The Ministry of Health reported on Wednesday the following statistics:: • 1,355 new covid-19 cases, bringing the total to 32,178 active cases. • 14,624 foreign-born people have been infected with a total of 83,497 cases since March, approximately 17.5% of the total cases. Of these, authorities confirmed the death of 32 foreign-born patients. • 557 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 203 patients are in ICU’s in delicate health conditions (ages range from a 1-year-old baby to an 89-year-old person). And 354 patients are in recovery rooms. The majority of the rest of the infected patients are quarantined in their homes. • 50,295 coronavirus patients have fully recovered, which is a 60.2% recovery rate of the total cases since March. • 148,499 people have been ruled out. • 247,803 medical covid-19 tests have been made. • 1,024 deaths of people infected with covid-19, approximately 1.2% death rate of the total cases since March. Of these 387 were women and 637 men. The ages range from 18 to a 100-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.  As of Wednesday night, the pandemic has killed 1,054,712 patients worldwide, according to recent statistics reported by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. ---------------------- Should Social Security authorities fire the employees protesting because they are not showing up to work? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com |
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