The National Emergency Commission (CNE) announced Friday that it will hire an additional 150 medics and has contracted with private hospitals to fortify Costa Rica’s fight against Covid-19.
The new medical professionals will staff a call center that contacts patients with Covid-19 to provide remote health support.
“[Its] objective is that people have a medical accompaniment without having to expose themselves to going to a health center and thus saturating the services,” the Presidency says.
The CNE also approved a financial plan that will allow the Social Security System (Caja) to send hospitalized patients without Covid-19 to private hospitals. This will create more space for coronavirus patients at public hospitals.
Clínica Bíblica, Hospital Cima, Hospital Metropolitano and La Católica will receive patients who have tested negative for Covid-19 and whose expected hospital stay is less than five days.
The $3.9 million investment for this agreement will be provided by the National Emergency Fund.
“We have agreed to support the Costa Rican Social Security Fund in its plan to expand its hospital capacity to face the Covid-19 pandemic, so that for a medium term they can reinforce direct care for patients who require a bed due to the complications generated by the coronavirus,” said Alexander Solís, CNE president.
As of Thursday afternoon, there are 1,438 people hospitalized with Covid-19 across all Costa Rican hospitals. Of those, 534 are in intensive care.
