More than 180 nurses walked off the job at Hospital México this morning after negotiations between their union and the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social ended without agreement, disrupting care in the hospital’s inpatient wards. In total, 181 of the 275 nurses scheduled for the first shift joined the action, close to two-thirds of the staff rostered for that period. Hospital officials said the effect was concentrated in hospitalization areas, where coverage fell furthest below normal levels.
The walkout followed months of talks that produced no resolution. The Sindicato Nacional de Enfermería y Afines, known as SINAE, says it has been trying since November 2025 to open a formal negotiating table with hospital management over conditions in the nursing service, a period the union puts at roughly nine months.
At the center of the dispute is what the union describes as a shortage of nurses assigned to direct patient care. SINAE estimates the hospital is short roughly 18 professionals and objects that nursing posts have been redirected to administrative duties while needs go unfilled in Emergency and Intensive Care.
The union has also raised complaints over scheduling and rest days, delays in salary payments, uncertainty surrounding exclusive-dedication contracts and what it characterizes as reprisals against staff who raised concerns. It has asked the CCSS to carry out a full intervention of the hospital’s nursing service and to temporarily remove the service’s director while the allegations it has filed are examined.
Lenin Hernández Navas, secretary general of SINAE, said the discussions held with the CCSS medical management and the hospital’s leadership produced no movement on the central question of staffing levels. Emmanuel Durán, a representative of the union, said Tuesday’s action should be understood as a first step rather than the end of the matter.
Douglas Montero, medical director of Hospital México, described the disruption recorded during the shift and the measures the hospital adopted to keep services running. He said the medical management remains willing to continue talking and left open the possibility of returning to the negotiating table.
Hospital México is one of Costa Rica’s three national referral hospitals. It serves a large share of the western Central Valley and takes complex cases transferred from clinics and regional hospitals around the country, which means disruption there tends to travel outward through the referral system rather than staying contained on one campus.
Patients with appointments or procedures booked at the hospital this week should confirm directly with the relevant service before traveling. Emergency care continues to operate, and anyone facing a genuine emergency should seek treatment without delay.
The strike arrives during a difficult stretch for the CCSS, which is under pressure over diagnostic backlogs and waiting lists elsewhere in the system. SINAE has separately pursued a criminal complaint before the prosecutor’s office for probity, transparency and anti-corruption over the handling of magnetic resonance imaging services.
Neither side has set a date to resume negotiations. With the union describing Tuesday as an opening move and hospital management signaling it remains open to talks, whether the dispute widens will depend on what the two sides put on the table next.
