Two Detained For Alajuela
Hospital Deficiencies
The
government had promised a heavy
hand against those responsible
for the problems in construction
and equipment at the new
Alajuela Hospital and yesterday
they showed that they mean it,
with the arrest of, Hernando
Lazo, the executive director of
the Obrascón Huarte
Laín-Expansión Exterior S.A. (OHL)
the Spanish consortium that
built the hospital, and Israel
Moya, head of operations at the
Caja Costarricense del Seguro
Social (CCSS).
The police action placed Lazo,
who was arrested in his office
and Moya, in his home in
Palmares, in the hands of the
Ministerio Público who will
investigate the case following
the charge by the CCSS.
The hospital with took some 25
years to plan, design and build
and was opened last October has
experienced too many
deficiencies in construction to
list and medical equipment that
is already failing or broken
down, affecting patient care and
making life impossible for
health care professionals.
Sources close to the
investigation say, unofficially,
that the detention of the two
men is only the beginning of a
series of detention to punish
those responsible.
The Spanish consortium OHL was
awarded the contract to build
the 31.645 square metre building
at a cost of us$35 million
dollars. The contract was to
build the structure and furnish
the hospital, including the
installation of medical
equipment.
The hospital was "officially"
opened and in the hands of the
CCSS on October 24, 2004 and in
December the CCSS returned the
us$3.4 million dollar deposit
guarantee to OHL. The guarantee
was to insure that the
construction and the completion
of the hospital would be on
time.
Some of the problems at the
hospital are minor like doors
that don't open or close
properly to major problems like
kitchen equipment that has left
the kitchen staff to use old
cooking equipment from the the
old hospital since the new
equipment has already broken
down. The new rice cooker, a
major food item at the hospital,
is sitting idle while kitchen
staff use the old cooking pans
to prepare the daily meals.
And this is not the first time
OHL has had similar problems. It
was recently revealed that the
Spanish company is being
investigated in Chile, when the
a Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos
del Hospital San José (intensive
care unit) in Santiago when the
builder mixed up oxygen and air
hoses which caused 21 deaths.
President Abel Pacheco is taking
this personally and reiterated
this week that, if necessary, he
will personally speak to Spanigh
government. Pacheco added that
if his conversations with the
Spanish company and that of the
government of José Luis
Rodríguez Zapatero prove to be
useless, his government will
resort to the Tribunales de
Justicia - the courts - to
defend the "huge amount of
money" that the new hospital
cost.
The Environment and the FTA
The
Central American countries and
the Dominican Republic
established an environmental
cooperation agreement and an
office to deal with
environmental issues, the Costa
Rican Minister of Foreign
Commerce Manuel Gonzalez
announced.
The goal is to ease political
pressure in Washington in
relation to the Central America
- U.S. Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA),
by showing that the region has
its own agenda to protect the
environment.
In a statement from the
Department of State, the U.S.
pointed out that it will lend a
hand to the Central American
effort through the Agency for
International Development (AID)
and the Environmental Protection
Agency.
Minister Gonzalez added that
Costa Rica has advanced
environmental legislation;
therefore, the cooperation will
go directly to specific
programs.
Support from BID
The
Bank for Inter-American
Development (BID) offered
Central America and the
Dominican Republic funding for
the projects necessary to
properly meet the CAFTA.
BID president Enrique Iglesias
said that they are placing a
high priority on helping the
region meet the challenges that
the FTA poses, but he did not
say how much they are going to
fund.
"The amounts are not a problem,"
Iglesias asserted. The
construction of infrastructure,
the strengthening of
institutions, support to small
and medium-size companies, as
well as for the development of
agriculture will be among the
main areas of action, he pointed
out.
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Protection of Turtles
A team of U.S. officials
inspected part of the Costa
Rican shrimp fleet to
determine the proper use of
the Turtle Exclusion Device,
which allows for the
liberation of turtles caught
in the nets of shrimp boats.
If the use of this device is
not complied with, the
United States closes its
market to shrimp from the
country which does not
comply.
According to preliminary
reports, the Costa Rican
fleet uses the device, and
research studies show that
the liberation is effective
97 percent of the time.
Alejandro Sotela, a
biologist of the Environment
Unit of the Costa Rican
Coast Guard, asserted that
this service and the Costa
Rican Fisheries Institute
ensure that turtles are
properly protected.
Spain to Receive Ibero-American
pro-tempore Secretariat
Costa Rica will
give Spain the Iberoamerican
Conference pro-tempore
secretariat in a ceremony to
be held at the Casa de
Americas, the foreign
ministry announced Thursday.
Spain's Foreign Ministry
explained that this
Secretariat was created for
organizing every
Iberoamerican Summit of Head
of States and Government.
Spain replaces Costa Rica
now in its responsibility of
coordinating the celebration
of the XV Summit that will
be held in October 14 to 15
in Salamanca, Castilla and
Leon, revealed the press
release.
Spain's First Government
Vice President, Maria Teresa
Fernandez de la Vega will
preside over the ceremony in
the presence of Costa Rica
Foreign Relations Minister,
Roberto Tovar and the
Spanish foreign minister
Miguel Angel Moratinos.
The main objective of the
entity will be to support
the Iberoamerican Conference
System, to contribute to the
unity of the community and
to boost Iberoamerican wider
scope internationally.
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