As the national newspaper La Nacion corrrectly notes, the Social Security (Caja) main office taking over running of a local hospital has become a frequent feature in this country. This week, it was the turn of St. Francis de Asis Hospital in Grecia.

This year, residents of the usually quiet town have gathered three times in front of the health care facility to protest exaggeatedly long waits for service. After a bureaurcratic study, the Caja agreed.

A team from the main office of the universal health care system will send administrators and physicians to the Grecia facility to straighten out the chaos there, as has been done in Cartago and elsewhere.

The landing of the medical management team will mean immediate suspension of director Roger Fernandez and his assistant Ligia Zamora. The Caja felt it necessary to issue a statement outlining that the hospital will not be closed during reorganization.

Last July, the Max Peralta Hospital in Cartago received the same overhaul of administration after it was found that the line of pending appointments had reached 114,000, implicating waits of up to three years.

More recently, specialists from the main Caja office had to intervene in functions of the radiotherapy section of Hospital Mexico due to constant failures of machines for treating cancer patients, for poor management of contracts, and even friction among personnel.

Source: Fijatevos.com