Health is a fundamental right, not just on a whim, but because it is established in the Political Constitution of Costa Rica.
For the people of Samara, who live in one of the most beautiful and touristic sites in Costa Rica, access to medical care is sometimes as difficult as winning the lottery.
Currently, the EBAIS available in Samara must attend to a population of more than 3,000 inhabitants and can no longer cope, without even taking into account that the building was built in 1974 and although some renovations have been made, the building does not meet the optimum operating conditions.
Given this unfortunate scenario, The Voice of Guanacaste would like to applaud the attitude of the community for persuading the Municipality of Nicoya to donate the land that was donated to the Municipality in 2014 by the Castillo family to the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) to build a clinic.
However, we feel that the CCSS’s position is discouraging since they deny that a clinic can be built, but rather an EBAIS, ignoring the population increase in the area. The demographic increase is not they only strong reason, but also a clinic would open it up for many specialists to be able to see patients there, and locals would not have to travel to La Anexion Hospital in Nicoya, 30 kilometers (19 miles) away.
The current Samara EBAIS is also burdened with plenty of legal trouble since the land on which it was built is in the name of the Municipality of Nicoya, so CCSS cannot invest in repairs or put money into the structure because it is not in their name, and to make the problem worse, the land is part of the Maritime Land Zone.
The improvements that have been made to the medical center have been made because the community has organized fiestas and activities to help them raise funds, but not because the CCSS or the Municipality has financed it.
What is sad is that, according to research by The Voice of Guanacaste, Samara ranks third among the districts of Nicoya in providing the most funds to the municipal coffers, and undoubtedly one of the main reasons is the number of tourists that visit the canton.
While the most important thing is to take care of those who live here, Samara can’t neglect the thousands of tourists who visit the area, who also have to use the medical facility if they get in an accident or come down with a temporary illness. This is also part of taking care of our image.
We hope that the altruistic, enterprising and courageous residents of the district do not lose the hope of building a medical clinic in the beach town, which would certainly be useful for other neighboring towns.
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