The 16-member group joined 30 Costa Rican physicians to provide indigenous people with assistance in preventive medicine, dentistry, pediatrics, ophthalmology and gynecology.
The 41-year-old Costa Rican woman was in the U.S. without health or travel insurance and accumulated roughly $300,000 in health care costs during a six-day hospital admission.
Most of the projected losses to the region take the form of foregone income from tourists — especially pregnant women — who might cancel their trips out of concern that contracting the virus could lead to birth defects.
Only 30 percent of the health care workers at the Costa Rican hospital with the largest concentration of deaths linked to H1N1 this season were vaccinated.
Doctors say four-legged friends have helped children at San Vicente de Paul Hospital improve their moods and reduce stress, anxiety and blood pressure, all with just a little canine TLC.
A legislative commission has approved two draft bills to fight the sexualization of minors and expand benefits to parents of children with severe health conditions.
