San Juan de Dios Emergency Room Shut Down For 8 Hours Yesterday
The emergency room at the San Juan de Dios hospital has to be closed for some eight hours yesterday as hospital staff and doctors could not cope with the quantity of patients requiring medical attention.

The announcement was made shortly after 12 noon, asking people not to go the downtown hospital emergency room as they would accept patients until 8:00pm.

Hospital officials and officials of the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) made the decision to close off the emergency facility to allow medical staff to catch up on existing cases. Hospital officials said that they had some 50 patients in the emergency ward when only 18 beds were available.

Those requiring attention were being asked to visit other facilities like the Calderón Guardia Hospital and Hospital México. Patients being transferred by ambulance were being sent to San Rafael de Alajuela and Vicente de Paul, Heredia facilities.

Rosa Climent, medical chief for the CCSS, said that yesterday's crisis is just one chapter more at the San Juan de Dios. Just a little over a month, medical authorities complained of the shortage of 16 anesthesiologists which has resulted in the waiting list for surgeries to grow to more than 8.000.

In addition, unofficial reports have been floating that the hospital is lacking some 400 beds, equipment that does not work, flooded floors, cracked walls and four areas closed off due to collapses in the construction.

Climent said that the CCSS is working on a "Master Plan" to address all the problems at the hospital, in the hopes of bettering conditions, both for the medical staff and patients.

To achieve their end, Climent said that hey will seek the support of the Organización Panamericana de la Salud (Panamerican health organization).

The San Juna de Dios hospital is one of the most important medical facilities located in the middle of downtown San José.