Faced with the growing problem of waiting lists, the Costa Rican Chamber of Health, which brings together the private health sector, proposes to address the problem of waiting lists with specific projects in the specialties where the most critical situations are registered in regarding waiting times such as orthopedics and ophthalmology.
“Situations of trauma due to traffic or sports accidents generate disruptive situations in the CCSS health services by modifying the planning of surgeries scheduled in other specialties”, said Massimo Manzi, Executive Director of the Costa Rican Chamber of I greeted him. “Also, in the case of ophthalmology, patients who are waiting for procedures such as cataracts not only experience a significant decrease in their quality of life, but are also exposed to very high risks of accidents and falls that can complicate the situation of people’s health and require more complex and expensive care.
Very prolonged wait
According to data from the Technical Waiting List Unit (UTLE), attached to the CCSS Medical Management, the average number of days to wait for surgery is 555 days; however, in some areas, the wait can be longer, as is the case of those who require an Orthopedic operation where it increases to 771 days, that is, approximately two years and one month. Operations in the Neurosurgery area have a waiting time of 598 days, followed by Otorhinolaryngology with 587 days, Peripheral Vascular with 547 days, and Urology with 543 days of waiting. For General Surgery, you must wait around 194 days and Ophthalmology, the waiting times increased by 474 days.
Faced with this reality, the Costa Rican Chamber of Health reiterates the call to the authorities to resume inter-institutional coordination with the participation of institutions such as the Ministry of Health, the Costa Rican Social Security Fund and the Costa Rican Chamber of Health and work as “a single” national health system, where solutions can be sought by taking advantage of all the resources installed and jointly managing to relieve the areas with the most critical waiting times. “The issue of waiting lists is an issue that requires urgent actions to give a quick and effective response to the thousands of patients who are waiting for treatment. However, it is also important to work on more strategic issues in order to strengthen the Health System. Among them, a national policy on human resources in health; the use of digital technologies as an important tool to make the system more effective and efficient; the strengthening of biomedical research to promote early access and cost-effective health technologies”, explained the Executive Director of the Costa Rican Chamber of Health.
