Costa Rican
President Urges Calm, Asks Pharmaceutical
Not To Gouge Prices
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Costa Rican
President Urges Calm, Asks Pharmaceutical
Not To Gouge Prices
Costa Rican president Oscar Arias,
addressing a press conference, on Wednesday
urged for people to keep calm in the face of
a possible swine flu outbreak and asked the
pharmaceutical companies and supplies of
medical products to not engage in gouging
price practices.
Arias also said there will be no closure of
the airport or flights to and from Mexico.
"We have sufficient medications to supply
the country, I urge you to be calm and
prudent", said Arias following a cabinet
meeting.
"We must avoid panic and carelessness.
Health authorities know what they should do
and we confide their abilities", he
said.
The government on Tuesday issues an
emergency decree to allow the government and
public institutions to move resources to
provide assistance where it is most needed
and gives the ministerio de Salud the
authority to order a quarantine if
necessary.
There are more than 60 suspected and two
confirmed cases of swine flu in Costa Rica.
The ministra de Salud, María Luisa Avila,
said that the country's medical system
is prepared in the event of more cases.
Arias said it is not easy to contain the
spread of the swine flu virus, but believes
health workers could reach out to those who
are in need of help.
The World Health Organization (WHO), raised
the security level to 5, one notch below the
alert for a pandemic alert. |
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