The Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) recently received 228 ventilators, reaching a total of 912, and also expanded its capacity of ICU beds to 211 to attend COVID-19 patients with the promise of reaching 287 in the coming days, informed authorities of the institution.
Months ago, the country acquired 311 ventilators to add to the equipment that the institution has. Of this number, 181 units have arrived and 130 are still in process. Later, it made an additional purchase of 14 respirators that were already in the national territory.
Likewise, the Republic of Qatar made a donation of seven more units. This is how the country has received 202 invasive ICU ventilators. To this are added 28 portable respirators with which the sum is taken to 228.
All these purchases and donations add up to a total installed institutional capacity of 912 ventilators, including 140 respirators that are used in the transfer of patients in ambulances.
“This does not include the 12 units that are yet to arrive that come with the Mobile Medical Unit that the United States donated to us last Monday,” explained Román Macaya, executive president of the CCSS.
Intensive care
Regarding beds in intensive care units (ICU), the institution currently has 211 cubicles available for people sick with COVID-19, of which 144 are already occupied by patients who require critical care.
“September is a month that is going to put us to the test (…) but we want to reach 287 ICU beds in the very short term. If one thought linearly, we are more or less in the middle where we want to be in a short time, but that is not a comfort zone,” added Macaya.
On the other hand, the ventilators that have been produced and manufactured by state universities, such as the University of Costa Rica, and the Technological Institute of Costa Rica are still in the testing phase, and the approval of these devices is still pending.
