Public hospitals in Costa Rica began to gradually reduce the beds designated to the care of Covid-19 patients following a sustained fall in infections over recent weeks.
The Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS), which manages public hospitals, said Friday that it will gradually reactivate care for other ailments, which had been suspended preserve capacity for coronavirus patients.
“We hope to recover non-Covid face-to-face care services, which at the time should have been provided virtually, and other cases such as scheduled surgeries that had to be suspended,” said Mario Ruiz Cubillo, medical manager of the CCSS.
Daily cases of Covid-19 in Costa Rica went from more than 1,200 in December to around 400 since the second week of January.
Likewise, the CCSS hospitals went from having 323 patients hospitalized for coronavirus in early January to 218 in the last week of that month.
Of the beds destined for Covid-19 cases in hospitals, there is an occupancy of 61% in intensive care units and 23% in other units, which allows the CCSS to reorient the use of that space.
Ruiz assured that the institution will be able to reutilize those beds if the pandemic situation demands it.
Costa Rica has registered 201,678 total Covid-19 infections as of this Friday, with 2,763 deaths.
