-Published: Tuesday, January 7, 2020-





By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Social Security announcement Monday the reduction in the waiting time for medical appointments and medical procedures, as a result of the National Plan for Timely Care.

According to Social Security, during 2019 there were 120,000 medical procedures, 10,400 surgeries and 23,000 consultations with specialists.

For example, in the San Vicente de Paul hospital in Heredia, 15,233 medical appointments took place, 3,505 patients were treated by specialist and 1,026 surgeries were performed during overtime.

According to Social Security, the waiting times during 2019 to receive medical treatment were:

- 335 days of waiting for surgeries, which is almost a year.

- 189 days to receive medical treatment, more than six months.

- 143 days for other medical procedures, which is more than four months.

In addition, Social Security reported treated 31,230 patients during campaigns in different communities in the country, providing services in various specialties, managing to accelerate procedures such as general and obstetric ultrasound, retinography, gastroscopy and colonoscopy.

According to Social Security statistics, during the period from January to October 2019, more medical services were performed, compared to the same period of 2018, among these are:

- 5 million more medication delivered.

- 4,767,686 more laboratory tests made.

- 126,525 more x-ray exams made.

- 406, 602 more medical emergencies treated.

The National Plan for Timely Care is the result of the Constitutional Court Chamber has ordered last April that Social Security to design, an integrated management system to reduce the "disproportionate and unreasonable deadlines that the patient should expect to receive care in hospitals," said the ruling. The problem is one that represents a systematic and repeated violation of the right to health.

Judges ordered the system in response to an appeal by a senior citizen filed on Sept. 13, 2018.

The citizen said that she required surgery at the San Rafael Hospital in Alajuela but that she was not informed of a specific date for the surgery and she was placed on the waiting list. For this reason, the woman appealed to the Constitutional Court ,claiming her right to health was violated by the hospital.

The Constitutional Court concluded that the problem in terms of excessive waiting lists is a constant in Social Security. "These actions in the provision of public service violate the right to health, as a fundamental right autonomous and violate the constitutional principles of public service," said the resolution statement.

According to the resolution, Social Security must define reasonable waiting times for treatments, as well as objective criteria to specify the location of a patient on waiting lists. It was also required to set a schedule of actions to meet the goals.

Within the plan, Social Security should propose solutions to the shortcomings and problems recognized by the institution itself: lack of adequate infrastructure, lack of specialized doctors, equipment needs, and the absenteeism of patients to appointments in various medical centers, among others.

The ruling includes:

 - Ordering that Social Security must reduce waiting lists.

 - Defining reasonable waiting periods by pathology or related diagnostic groups according to the symptomatology, the level of urgency and the patient's conditions.

 - Determining the objective criteria to set a patient on the waiting lists.

 - Taking care of special groups as elderly patients, people with disabilities, and children.

 - Respecting the constitutional principles in public service of efficiency and effectiveness.

According to the statistics of the Constitutional Court, in 2018, 7,037 claims were made against Social Security for violating the right to health. In order to follow up on compliance with this ruling, the Constitutional Chamber established a public and oral hearing last November in the Supreme Court of Justice.

On that day, the authorities of Social Security presented the advances and actions developed to reduce the patients treatments waiting lists.



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