In an attempt to shorten patient lists awaiting routine care, a medical center of routine births and surgery on ambulant patients has will open Monday in Desamparados.

Although the center has an unwieldy name–Center for Integral Attention in Health–its aim is to attend patients faster than in regular Caja (Social Security) hospitals.

To the already cumbersome name must be added that it will also bear the name of Mariquita Fallas, a well-known midwife in the canton. But Ticos are accustomed to long names and this one will be shortened to its Spanish acronym, CAIS.

The center will not only be available to the 600,000 insured subscribers to the universal health care system in the Desamparados canton but also to residents of nearby Aserri, Acosta in the central mountains and Corralillo in Cartago canton.

CAIS director Hector Araya said his center hopes to care for 3,500 low-risk births annually, plus 500 routine surgeries of ambulatory patients. The facility will also have 24-hour pharmacy and emergency service.

During the inauguration Wednesday, President Laura Chinchilla said that the facility will help take pressure off hospitals in the Greater Metropolitan area such as San Juan de Dios and the Women’s Hospital.

“As long as we have people who want to work and who have a commitment to improve the quality of life.” said the President, “in Costa Rica there is no crisis.”

(She would not have said the same thing last year, when the Social Security hospitals and clinics were so inundated by debt that the system needed an emergency bailout from the government.)

The new clinic will work in close collaboration with the well-established Marcial Fallas Clinic in Desamparados. But, by specializing in routine care, the new facility would be a move toward shorter patient waiting lists.

The family medicine focus of the center will need specialties of gynecology, pediatricians, anesthesia and emergency room staff on its 411-worker payroll.