Work on the Calderón Guardia Hospital’s new East Tower will begin in mid-April and will last approximately three years, said officials from the CCSS, the Costa Rica Social Security Agency.

The new infrastructure, measuring approximately 21,000 square meters and costing an estimated US$83 million, of which US$18 million will be for equipment, will bolster the country’s public health care system.

Hospital Director Taciano Lemos Pires said the building is part of a larger restructuring process at the facility near downtown San José. He explained that, at different times, closures will be made in different parts of the existing hospital building due to the new construction, and some medical offices will be relocated to buildings outside the hospital during the building project.

The new 7-story building will have 209 beds and 35 incubators. The floors will be divided by specialties as follows:

Levels 1 and 2: Radiology and medical imaging – fully digitized.
Floor 3: Neonatal and deliveries: 35 incubators, plus delivery rooms
Floor 4: Gynecology and obstetrics: 72 beds
Floor 5: Inpatient medical care: 43 beds
Floor 6: Surgery: 70 beds
Floor 7: Isolation unit: 14 beds

The new tower will be connected to the existing building, and as part of the project, a new drinking water tank will be built that will supply the entire facility upon completion.

 

This national hospital serves as the specialist reference center for patients in Cartago, Limón, Guápiles and Turrialba, and serves a population of approximately 1.5 million inhabitants.

Its current capacity of 422 beds will increase by almost 50 percent with the completion of the new tower. The Calderón Guardia Hospital offers the follow speciality services: chemotherapy, hemodialysis, transplants, hemodynamics, perinatology, cardiology, dentistry, among others.

Its 3,228 staff (which includes medical, administrative and general services) provide round-the-clock care in three daily work shifts, explained the CCSS.

In 2016, the medical center recorded 25,563 procedures and medical visits, and sees roughly 6,000 people per week through its outpatient care services.