A faulty 46-year-old electrical system is to blame for a decision by administrators at San José's public Hospital México to shut down all 14 operating rooms as of Friday, the hospital's medical director, Douglas Montero, said.
Good news for users of Costa Rica's public health care system: Starting in August, the Social Security System, or Caja, will have a new link on their website (www.ccss.sa.cr) for patients to schedule appointments online.
During the 2010 World Cup, Caja hospitals registered 87,359 people given sick leave. This year 58,580 people received sick leave -- a drop of 28,779 requests despite Costa Rica's success in the Brazil-hosted tournament.
Public hospitals in Costa Rica can refuse non-emergency care for self-employed workers who are behind in payments to the Social Security System, or Caja, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, or Sala IV, ruled this week.
President Luis Guillermo Solís released a decree granting public sector workers permission to do what they almost certainly would have been doing anyway: watching Costa Rica play Italy and England in the World Cup.
The passion most Ticos have for football has officials at the Social Security System worried. Last week the Caja issued an order to all doctors at public hospitals to restrict permission for sick days throughout the month. Apparently employees' health tends to deteriorate during the World Cup.
Just over 378,000 foreign residents live in Costa Rica. Of those, 185,778 are employed, and 180,436 have health care coverage with the state-run Social Security System, or Caja, according to the “Third Report on Migration and Human Development," released Wednesday.
Costa Rica’s Social Security System, or the Caja, wants to reduce the number of people who smoke, as well as the high costs public hospitals incur in treating patients with tobacco-related illness.
An increase in the amounts deducted by the Costa Rican Social Security System (Caja) this month surprised many who wonder about the origin of the increase they saw in their social security slip.
