Although Costa Rica has the lowest regional mortality rate for vector-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria, the fact remains that children from low-income families are the most affected by mosquito bites. As recently reported by The Costa Rica Star: The most dangerous organism in Costa Rica is not even a vertebrate, but it kills approximately three quarters of a million humans each year. ...

Dr. Alejandro Ayon Lacayo, Director of the Centro Internacional de Medicina (CIMA), was detained at the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) in Alajuela earlier this morning. According to a report by Lady Rojas of online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, Dr. Ayon was taken into custody by Airport Police officers from Air Surveillance, a special unit of Fuerza Publica, Costa Rica's national police ...

San Vicente de Paul Hospital in Heredia A young man in Costa Rica who suffered from a malignant tumor in his spinal cord is recovering after a successful surgical procedure that involved the implantation of a penile prosthesis. The surgery was performed at the Saint Vincent of Paul Hospital, a public health facility that serves the community of Heredia. This was the first time a penile implant...

Modern medicine focuses on planning, management and efficiency just as much as it focuses on science and research. Preoperative (pre-op) procedures are an important part of the surgical spectrum as they allow physicians to efficiently manage the treatment process. How are these pre-op procedures handled prior to the arrival of medical tourists in Costa Rica? In most cases, pre-op procedures are...

Long lines at La Caja, but few foreigners A recent study by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Spanish acronym: INEC) reveals that only six percent of all public health care treatments in Costa Rica are provided to foreign patients. This finding dispels the notion that immigrants are a burden on La Caja, Costa Rica's public health care system. In fact, immigrant workers are more ...

Although medical tourism in Costa Rica is known to be mostly a 21st century development, dental patients from North America and Europe have been coming here for decades for implants, general dentistry, oral surgery, cosmetic procedures, and more. In fact, a 2006 research study by the Department of Geography at the University of Kansas determined that dentistry, and dental implants in particular ar...

Among the numerous reasons medical tourism in Costa Rica has grown significantly over the last few years, quality of care stands out as being among the most important. In the 21st century, a handful of nations have consistently ranked among the top countries for health care in terms of quality and affordability, and Costa Rica is the most attractive destination for North American medical travelers...

Many foreigners visit Costa Rica specifically for the purpose of getting quality medical attention and medications at very affordable prices, and a few of these medical tourists become interested in returning for an extended visit. Now that the two major medical centers CIMA and Clinica Biblica have expanded to Guanacaste, some medical tourists are intrigued by the expat lifestyle. As foreign resi...

Telethon in Costa Rica raises money for the needyAlthough the Telethon (Teleton in Spanish) was held between December 5 and 7, it will be until next February that the money for the Hospital de la Anexión in Nicoya will be allocated for the purchase of medical equipment, which would be delivered during the first half of 2014. After finishing the event, which brought together the people and busi...

Shannon Enete, Author of Becoming an Expat: Costa Rica It feels like an entire life ago when I worked as a paramedic. Responding to 9-1-1 calls across the beaches of action-packed San Diego filled my days. That is, until one emergency response created the first link that would soon connect me to my new life in Costa Rica. The patient was not breathing, large, naked, and pure dead weight in a ti...

Source: Wikimedia Commons A public and private partnership comprised of business leaders and health officials in the province of Guanacaste are attempting to jump-start the medical tourism industry of Costa Rica. A few days ago, a regional initiative named Guanacaste Health and Travel was unveiled. This initiative will try to shift the bulk of medical tourism to the Pacific Northwest region of...

Personnel at 45 EBAIS clinics in Montes de Oca, La Union and Curridabat intend to go out on strike Thursday, to protest the transfer of administration from the University of Costa Rica (UCR) to that of Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE). EBAIS are clinics set up by the Social Security system (Caja) and contracted out to private sources for their administration. They attend chronic and routine m...

The universal health care system of Costa Rica (Caja) has doubled its capacity to give radiation treatments to cancer patients with a new building for treatment at Hospital Mexico. The building cost 9 billion colones, approximately $17.3 million US dollars and includes two new linear accelerators, in addition to the two purchased last year. Cancer, according to the national newspaper La Nacion,...

Last weekend I finally got to visit a place I’ve been wanting to see all year long! My friends and I took a visit to the Duran Sanatorium (El Sanatorio Duran) near Cartago, Costa Rica. The Duran Sanatorium is considered one of the most haunted places in all of Costa Rica, and it was only a half hour drive out of San Jose. It has even been featured on an episode of Ghost Hunters International. ...

United States healthcare related entities including insurance companies, self-insured employers, third party administrators, hospitals, physician practices, managed care organizations and many others are all packing their shorts, flip flops and sunscreen and heading south to this year’s 4th Annual Medical Travel Business Summit being held in Costa Rica, April 24th-26th. With the recent passing of ...

While the United States stares into the abyss of the fiscal cliff Jan. 1, the Social Security universal health care system (Caja) faces another chasm -- a medical one. The University of Costa Rica has given the Caja notice this month that, due to a 5.3 billion colon deficit in the past several years, it will terminate its contract to run 45 routine medical treatment centers in three of the most...

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK | Fri Dec 14, 2012 5:01pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The information sheets that come stapled to certain prescriptions picked up at the pharmacy are too complex and difficult for people to understand, according to a new study. "Anyone who's seen these are not going to be surprised by the fact that they're difficu...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Wed Dec 12, 2012 1:19pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a new study of U.S. adults with glaucoma, Hispanics were the least likely to get routine follow-up testing to make sure their vision wasn't getting worse. With glaucoma, pressure inside the eye builds up over time, causing damage to the optic nerve.Many peopl...

By Ben Hirschler LONDON | Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:51pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - Roche has offered an olive branch to scientific critics in a bid to end a bitter fight over blockbuster flu drug Tamiflu that has led to calls for a boycott of the Swiss drugmaker's products. Tamiflu has been approved by regulators worldwide and stockpiled by many government...

For many people, no creature evokes the kind of disgust and horror that snakes do, and Costa Rica has an abundance of slithering serpents known to have deadly dentures. But the reality is that snakebites are few and far-between. On average, 504 people are bit per year in all of Costa Rica, according to a review of medical facility data by Mahmood Sasa from the University of Costa Rica. And than...

In the past The Costa Rica Star has published an in depth article about the serene and peaceful Amatierra Yoga Retreat and Wellness Center in the mountains 50 minutes west of San Jose. For those of you who are Costa Rican residents or nationals, you can take advantage of their current promotion of $60 per person, nightly for a suite, including breakfast and dinner (based on double occupancy).   ...

Notice to the readers of The Costa Rica Star: We have met with many Costa Rica based Cosmetic and general Dentists, and thought very carefully before deciding who to promote on our website. We believe that Meza Dental Care is the best choice for your Dental needs in Costa Rica, in part because they have been in business since 1995 with a focus on treating Dental tourists from the US and Ca...

Graduates of Cuba’s Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina, or ELAM, are “gravely deficient” in their preparation to practise medicine, the head of Costa Rica’s most celebrated medical school told journalists last month. Of the 138 graduates who failed the medical licensing exams in Costa Rica, 59 were graduates of ELAM, said Ricardo Boza Cordero, director of the medical programme at the Unive...

Retiring to Nicaragua does not have to mean that people’s healthcare will suffer, especially if they are going to be moving close to the capital city Managua and other major cities. Healthcare is very good in Nicaragua and it is also less expensive than it is in the United States. Therefore, people have the opportunities to maintain their health even if they move out of the States and retire i...

Clinica Zahha is a new, AAAASF accredited ambulatory surgery center located in eastern San Jose, Costa Rica that offers an opportunity for pristine tranquility, relaxation, and unparalleled surgeons performing surgical procedures. With two operating rooms, the ability to handle cosmetic, general, oncology, orthopedic, vascular, urological, and pediatric surgery, one may wonder what else there ...

Obama’s new health care reform will provide a windfall of business opportunities for businesses in Costa Rica. Because forcing every American to have health insurance, will create between 20-40 million new patients in the US with access to medical services and that in turn create the need for the acquisition of more medical devices. Costa Rica’s Medical Devices industry is flourishing and has ...

In the year 1921 a new project was started in Costa Rica by the Latin American Mission. Several missionaries of various nationalities came to this country with the goal of helping those in greatest need. Mr. Henry Strachan, of Scottish nationality, and his Irish wife Susan Strachan joined this noble cause after having served as evangelical missionaries in Argentina for 17 years. Upon their arr...

Note: This article is not intended to be a definitive guide on choosing a dentist or dental surgeon in Costa Rica, it serves as a reminder that often things sound to good to be true, so be careful where you get your dental work done. I just saw this headline in a magazine: “World-Class Dental Services at 50-70% Savings over U.S. Prices!” A lot of other verbiage, mostly misleading, continues. Th...

Source: Wikimedia Commons If conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh is a man of his word, he may be visiting Costa Rica as a medical tourist in the future. In 2010, Mr. Limbaugh stated that if the Affordable Care Act legislation passed in the United States, he would come to Costa Rica. A major ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday gave the green light to the legislation some people refer t...

As Costa Rica increasingly grows into a highly visited destination, the need for innovation in emergency medical services becomes more pressing. Air ambulance services have been around since World War I, but sophisticated and readily accessible aeromedical services have only recently become available in Costa Rica. Over the last three years, Nature Air -a domestic airline that is probably best kn...

This is an older article from last year (published on Feb 15th 2011) taken from the Miss Move Abroad website, however it is incredibly important to read about these first hand experiences with the CCSS Medical System in Costa Rica and that of the Private Hospitals, such as Clinica Biblica. With the new immigration reforms that go into effect in Costa Rica on March 1, expats who are legal reside...

A recent article in the online version of the Cleveland Jewish News described a typical example of conflict resolution in Costa Rica. Dental practitioner Dr. Yoav Taub and his wife arrived in the Juan Santamaria International Airport and tried to clear customs with a few days' supply of kosher food. As previously reported in The Costa Rica Star, importing food into our country can be a highly bur...

La Caja, our beloved public health and welfare system, is in the sights of many individuals and organizations -and not just in Costa Rica, but also around the world. La Caja is not in the best state in terms of financial solvency, and this comes at a time when the Tico population is showing clear signs of aging and a decreased birthrate. Several international news and research organizations ha...

The Costa Rican Caja de Seguro Social was justifiably considered a whopping success in the years after its inception in 1948, and regarded as a proud achievement of the government: free health and medical care for everyone. But over the years the pride has slowly faded away as the lines of persons needing medical attention have grown longer and longer, and even critical surgeries and other spe...

Respected British medical journal The Lancet recently published a comprehensive article about the three factors affecting our public health care system and how La Caja is dealing with them. The author of the article is David Boddiger, an experienced journalist who is also the editor of The Tico Times. In his detailed article, Boddiger cites the global economic crisis, along with careless spendi...

A dear reader named Sharon recently left a question on the Facebook profile of The Costa Rica Star about the questionable practice of private health facilities charging money upfront for ambulance transportation or even medical procedures. She also wanted to know about the insurance policies accepted by private hospitals like CIMA, Clinica Biblica and Hospital La Catolica. Sharon thinks that the I...

Author's Note: This is not medical advice. When it comes to matters of immunization and prophylaxis, readers are urged to consult with health care professionals. News about the status of certain vaccines in our country have dominated headlines in recent days. The most notorious headline has been that of the special vaccines against the seasonal influenza AH1N1 and AH3N2. According to a report i...