President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado and the Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, signed this week the "technical norm for the therapeutic interruption of pregnancy" for cases where the health or life of the pregnant women is in danger, as a guideline and in support of what Article 121 of the Criminal Code states. The Ministry of Health elaborated the text of this technical norm which was sent...

Costa Rica has cultivated a reputation as a medical tourism mecca. Patients come from all over the world to take advantage of the highly trained medical teams operating in Costa Rican hospitals, at prices often lower than in other countries. Now there’s a return of a problem first discovered in 2017: illegal organ trafficking. The illegal organ trafficking business was first brought to light tw...

The Ministry of Health in Costa Rica issued an alert due to the severity of the cases received this year of young children with Respiratory Syncytial Virus. Respiratory Syncytial Virus causes more serious health problems in children under 1 year of age, and up to two years of age. A child with a chronic health problem is especially at risk for serious illness. RSV affects small passages of t...

Costa Rica positions itself among the countries with higher survival rate for breast cancer according to the study “Cancer Facts & Figures 2018” of the American Cancer Society. The revision of the international results, considering the deaths due to breast cancer after five years of receiving diagnosis, reveal that the nations with higher survival rate are between 85% and 90%. Costa Rica...

After eight days of striking and after several long meetings between representatives of the CCSS labor union and the Government, an agreement was reached to put an end to the strike that caused the cancellation of 82,872 scheduled appointments and more than 1,400 surgeries and 18,000 procedures . The Executive Director of CCSS, Roman Macaya, celebrated the agreement that put an end to the strik...

As of noon Friday, the Social Security Service (CCSS) had been forced to suspend 57,536 patient appointments after almost a week of strike which affected over 39% of public health appointments. Close to 20% of the employees are taking part of the strike, which mainly include nurses, support personnel, and personnel in the area of health technologies; also 578 general medical doctors and 408 spe...

The year 2017 saw the second highest global tree cover loss recorded in the history of this planet, according to the World Economic Forum. Researchers at the University of Maryland (USA) found an area of tree loss equal to the size of Bangladesh. That equates to losing 40 soccer fields covered in trees every minute for a year. But guess what, Costa Rica took the fight in the other direction, decla...

The Ministry of Health in Costa Rica issued an alert this week regarding the selling of tainted alcohol, after 19 people, most of them homeless, passed away after an apparent intoxication, the deaths took place between the months of June and July. The alcohol they drank apparently contained methanol. 14 of the victims were men and 5 women, between the ages of 32 and 72. The Ministry of Health c...

University of Costa Rica’s Bernal Rodriguez Herrera, has won the prestigious Aldo Leopold award for his work in the field of conservation of bats and their habitats – the first time a Costa Rican has won this honor in any scientific pursuit. Rodriguez is the Founder and Co-ordinator of the Latin American Bat Conservation Network, and has done much of his vital research at the Biological Reserve Tr...

The pill known as “morning-after” pill, used as an emergency contraception method is now available in Costa Rica after receiving green light from the Ministry of Health. Pharmaceutical house Quinfica is the company distributing the “morning-after” pill under the name Posterga, and it will be sold in pharmacies for a price of 18 thousand colones (approximately $31.00 USD). Posterga will be ...

This Monday, June 3, 2019, Costa Rica kicked off  the first ever vaccination campaign to protect young girls against Human Papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection and some types lead to cervix cancer, the vaccine is now part of the national vaccination program and will be applied free of charge by social security to 10-year-old girls. Cervical cancer is th...

Last year NBC News named cigarette butts as the single greatest source of ocean pollution – far surpassing the recently demonized plastic straws or single use plastic bags. The momentum of banning plastic straws continues to grow with major corporations taking up the fight and gradually phasing out straws completely. However, many experts believe that the focus of ocean pollution and litter should...

Here’s something brilliant that Costa Rica has achieved in the last thirty years: They have doubled their forest cover. Half of Costa Rica’s land surface is now covered with trees. Those trees can absorb a massive amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and we can all breathe easier for it. Bravo! No one would have predicted this outcome back in 1983 when a meager 26% of Costa Rica had f...

The Ministry of Health and the General Directorate of Migration in Costa Rica are working on the requirements to begin implementing a regulation for foreigners requesting their residence in the country to comply with the national vaccination program starting July 2019. According to Rodrigo Marín, director of Health Surveillance, every year the Migration office in Costa Rica receives anywhere be...

Costa Rican Social Security Service “La Caja” (CCSS) received the United Nations’ Public Service Award 2019 in the category “Promoting digital transformation in public sector institutions”, Good Health and Well Being for the implementation of Single Digital Health Records, a unique tool in primary medical care. “The United Nations Public Service Awards is the most prestigious international rec...

Located adjacent to The Retreat Costa Rica on Crystal Mountain and overlooking a tropical organic coffee plantation with Pacific Ocean views, the opening of a new 7,000 square foot Vida Mia Ayurvedic Healing Center and Spa is set to open proudly on Saturday, June 8, 2019. This will be the debut of the first Ayurvedic healing center in Costa Rica and will include a healer from Kerala, India special...

Jaco is still reeling from the apparent suicide of one of their favorite local residents and businessmen, Marc Pontbriant. Marc radiated energy and a love for life, and his girlfriend and friends are having difficulty accepting the tragic fact that he is gone. He died on May 3, in his bed in Esterillios, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He left his passport, wallet and contact list a...

Costa Rican company Vertical CR is currently waiting for permission from the Ministry of Health to be able to commercialize its health products based on medicinal marijuana. The company offers oils, lotions, pills, among other products for human use and even for dogs all of them using marijuana for medicinal purposes, eliminating THC, the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychologic...

Four of the nine children of a US family living in Cabuya, Cóbano, Puntarenas, tested positive for measles and has been confirmed by the Ministry of Health this week. The minors are currently under isolation in their home along with the rest of the rest of their family. The US natives are missionaries who apparently became in contact with the virus when they received a visit of another missi...

Canadian site Globehunters published information based on data by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) about where it is safe to drink tap water around the world. The results indicate that there are 187 countries where drinking tap water should be avoided, “It is important to note that this does not mean that water in a country is unsafe or polluted, just that as a tourist, your body will no...

For months now Costa Rican health authorities have been insisting on the vaccination of children against measles due to outbreaks of this virus in different parts of the continent; yesterday, the Ministry of Health confirmed that this virus is back in the country, an imported case from France. A family of French tourist, the parents 30 and 35 years of age and their 5-year-old child, have been ...

The governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, declared sanitary emergency state due to a measles outbreak that has affected some 30 people since the beginning of the year. Costa Rican health authorities insist on vaccination campaign for children under 10 years of age. Inslee, explained through a press release that Washington has a very low vaccination rates and therefore there is an “extreme risk t...

Nine out of ten people in the world breath air with contamination levels that are higher than those recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), being aware of this problem is what inspired a Costa Rican company to create “Essential Air”, cans of 100% rainforest air from Costa Rica. "WHO estimates that around 7 million people die every year from exposure to fine particles in polluted air...

In order to prevent shortage of blood during this end of the year, the Social Security Service in Costa Rica (CCSS) calls on donors to approach the Blood Bank in Zapote. According to their estimations, they need at least 423 donors to handle the demand. The Blood Bank will be operating normally December 26, 27 and 28 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. One donor can save as many as 4 lives; so far this y...

In the last five years, scientists in Costa Rica have noticed a marked increase in Black Mantled Howler Monkeys -- who are turning blonde. Howler Monkeys (called Congos in Spanish), comprise 69% of the primate population of the country. Howlers are renowned for their vocalizations made by adult males, which can be heard more than one kilometer away. They are called “mantled” howler monkeys due to ...

Going to the dentist is usually not an experience we look forward to, but it is something we all need to do if we want a healthy smile and overall good health. It is recommended for a person to visit a dentist at least twice a year to prevent any severe problems, however, many times, not only do we not look forward to it but we avoid it because of the high costs it represents, especially when it c...

The Board of Directors of the Social Security Service (CCSS) in Costa Rica approved this Thursday, November 29, the protocol of comprehensive attention for the transgender population, which means they will be able to receive hormonal treatment in the hospitals of the CCSS. Doctor, Roman Macaya Hayes, executive president of the CCSS, described the approval as a ¨historical decision¨ that settles...

So far this year 7000 cases of measles have been reported in the American continent, and out of these, 72 patients have died; for this reason the Costa Rica Public Health and Social Security Administration (C.C.S.S) and the Ministry of Health urge parents to vaccinate their children against this virus. The alert is specially for children between the ages of 15 months and 10 years old. The Healt...

Globcan 2018, a study carried out by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) with the purpose of analyzing the trend and international impact of the different types of cancer, exposed that Costa Rica is exceeding the average number of cases of prostate cancer. The study shows that globally, there an estimate of one million new cases of prost...

On Wednesday, November 14th, the American biologist being treated at San Juan de Dios Hospital in San Jose, died of cardiorespiratory failure, after having been bitten by a rabid bat while exploring a cave in Copey de Dota with his family. The scientist was 43 years old, and his name is being withheld at the request of his family. The biologist was admitted on October 21st to the Intensive Care...

Health authorities in Costa Rica warn of red tide affecting some areas of the Pacific Coast, Guanacaste, the Nicoya Peninsula and the Central Pacific. Red tide is caused by large concentrations of some species of algae. Red tide can be easily spotted due to the presence of red-brownish spots in coastal waters, this algal bloom also deplete oxygen in the waters and release certain toxins which w...

Specialists in gynecology at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Costa Rica built the vaginas of two woman that were born with vaginal agenesis, a rare disorder that occurs when the vagina doesn't develop, and the womb (uterus) may only develop partially or not at all. ¨The procedure consists of two stages: a surgical stage and a mechanical stage, the hospital had to acquire a special device for e...

The Costa Rican Ministry of Health warned of an increase in the cases of respiratory syncytial virus which affects mainly young children; currently, health authorities have registered 121 minors hospitalized, 30 of them in very delicate condition, some that require the assistance of a machine to breath. The health authorities called on parents to keep small children especially newborns and babi...

The Clinica Biblica Hospital inaugurated this November 5 its new facilities in the area of Santa Ana, San José, Costa Rica. The new building involves 7,000 square meters of the hospital building and 8,000 square meters of the parking lot tower, this is the second location the private medical center opens, but it has plans to open two other facilities, one in Heredia and another in Tres Rios wit...

Costa Rican Border Police intercepted an important cargo of smuggled medications in Peñas Blancas, La Cruz Guanacaste. Border Police agents were patrolling a sector of the border when a group of men noticing the police presence dropped the bags they were carrying and managed to escape to Nicaraguan territory. The bags contained a total of 10,969 units of different medications with an estima...

Four years had gone by with no registered cases of rabies affecting humans in Costa Rica. Unfortunately today the Ministry of Health confirmed the case of a 43-year-old biologist who became infected by the virus and is in very delicate condition at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in San Jose. Apparently, the man was bit by a bat on his left arm when he visited a cave during a family trip in the a...

An investment of close to $13 million made possible the construction of the Costa Rican Oncology Center (Centro Oncológico Costarricense) a medical center in La Uruca, San Jose, that will open doors this Novemeber offering the latest in treatments for cancer patients. The five floor medical tower is equipped to treat an approximate 1200 patients a month, and it offers unique medical equipme...

The Labor Unions of the Social Security Service (CCSS) negotiated and reached an agreement with the authorities of the CCSS and the Government to return to their work this Monday, October 9, after a month of striking. The negotiations involved close to ten hours of negotiations and will allow the public hospitals and health centers to resume normal operations. The strike caused the suspensio...

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 6-7 million people in the world are infected with Chagas Disease, a possibly fatal disease spread by the bite of a bug with the cute name of the “Kissing Bug”. Most of these people live in Latin America, usually in areas up to 1,600 meters above sea level, and Costa Rica has thousands of infected individuals, many of whom are completely una...

This Thursday the director of the San Juan de Dios Hospital in San Jose, Doctor Ileana Balmaceda, denounced the actions of the labor union that took over surgery rooms preventing oncology patients from getting programmed surgeries. According to Balmaceda, members of the labor union were upset because the hospital arranged to get assistance from surgeons and professionals from the Puriscal clini...