This article from
AM Costa Rica this morning describes the lack of safety equipment at the hospital and the Presidents explanation as to why, in spite of the fact that they were aware of the problem, it has not been addressed.
Quote:
Recriminations begin over hospital tragedy
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
As the full impact of the hospital Calderón Guardia tragedy became clear Tuesday, Costa Ricans were shocked and enraged that the older section of the building did not have even the most basic fire protection and alarms.
Some 18 person — including three nurses— died in the early morning fire, and official and unofficial sources revealed that the hospital did not have emergency exits, fire alarms or sprinklers. In fact, a well-thumbed health ministry report predicted point by point the tragedy that took place.
The fire consumed some 4,000 square meters, the fifth and part of the fourth floor of the 52-year-old structure. MarÃa del Rocio Sáenz, health minister, set the financial loss at $8 million not counting equipment and furnishings.
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A page of photos HERE!
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The rapidly moving fire seems to have begun in the only available stairway. Patients in the neurosurgical unit on the fifth floor and in the cardiology unit on the fourth floor died in their beds or on the floor seeking air.
The light of day revealed a structure with the entire fifth floor charred and with large gaps in the roof. The bulk of the hospital is newer and is an independent structure although just some six feet south of the older building.
President Abel Pacheco told a Tuesday news conference that the required improvements were not made to the hospital because Costa Rica is a poor country and lacks the money. He used the opportunity to push again for the proposed new tax plan languishing in the Asamblea Nacional. Pacheco, himself, is a physician and a sometimes patient at Calderón Guardia. During a 7 a.m. visit to the scene of the tragedy the president ducked a newsman's question about why a similar but lesser fire several months ago at the same facility did not result in reforms.
Pacheco declared three days of national mourning in honor of the victims and said he was considering declaring a national emergency that would allow better management of the fire's aftermath.
Hospital CIMA, a new, private facility west of San José is the only accredited hospital in the country. The remainder of the private hospitals have deficiencies also well documented by health studies. Only the just-opened Alajuela public hospital has modern fire detection and prevention equipment.
Calderón Guardia is in Barrio Aranjuez, northeast San José two blocks north of Parque Nacional.
Fire Chief Chávez
Hector Chavez, head of the bomberos or firemen was quick to point out the obvious deficiencies when he talked with reporters in the morning:
“The hospital didn’t comply with any preventative measures. It had no fire escapes, no detectors for smoke or high temperatures, no illuminated exit signs and no fire sprinklers.†Nor
did the hospital have an emergency evacuation plan, although one was listed as necessary several years ago.
About 300 firemen were at the blaze, Chavez said. There also were many aid workers. A reporter saw persons using normal extension ladders to try to save people trapped on higher floors and patients knotting bed sheets together to escape. The patients who were saved as well as rescuers said that the stairways had burned down, stranding people in the building. More than 500 patients were in the hospital when the blaze broke out.
One of the patients, Alfonso Perez Alvarado, was a 17-year-old Turrialba youth who had a brain tumor removed 15 days earlier. Doctors said the procedure saved his life. The operation went well, and he was expected to fully recover, attendants said. He died in the blaze.
Patricia Fallas, a nurse, was found on the fourth floor clutching a flashlight. President Pacheco said that this mother of two should be regarded as a hero because she saved many lives before succumbing to the smoke. Two other nurses died as well as 15 patients, said hospital workers.
Another victim, a 55-year-old Tres Rios man, Rodolfo Arguedas, also had a brain tumor. “He couldn’t move,†said his niece Marta Soto Arguedas and nephew Mauricio Monge. The cousins met for the first time in their lives Tuesday morning while searching a list for the whereabouts of their uncle.
Workers for the judicial morgue started removing bodies from the edifice at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. Of the 15 patients killed in the blaze, only two were women. The blaze was centered on a male ward.
Dr. Alejandro Hernandez Alvarez, the night head of the emergency room, told reporters that more information would be released at a morning press conference today.
Contributing to this report were Saray RamÃrez Vindas, associate editor; intern Jesse Froehling; photographer José Pablo RamÃrez Vindas, and editor Jay Brodell
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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine
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