The hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) will arrive in Puntarenas on Sunday, July 21 to offer free medical care in the country from July 23 to 27 as part of the United States’ support to the region, which suffers from the political crisis in Nicaragua and Venezuela, and related migration challenges.
Attention to be provided
Medical personnel on board the hospital ship will work hand in hand with their counterparts from the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS), offering medical care at the Association of Pensioners of Puntarenas (APENPUN), in Chacarita, and at the El Coloso Gymnasium, in Barranca
Services to be offered include:
- Medical evaluation and treatment
- Preventive medicine
- Dental examinations and treatment
- Optometry exams and eyeglasses delivery
- Pediatrics
- Dermatology
- Women’s health
- Public health
- Physical therapy services
- Laboratory analyses
- Delivery of medicines
- General ambulatory surgery of hernia and gallstones (aboard the ship, to patients previously
selected by the CCSS) - Ophthalmological surgery of cataracts and ocular pterygium (aboard the ship, to patients previously selected by the CCSS).
For general attention, the public should come to APENPUN or El Coloso Gym between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., July 23 through July 27. Insurance by the CCSS is not required to receive medical attention.
Veterinary Services
Veterinary services will be provided by USNS Comfort personnel with a mobile clinic from the National Animal Health Service (SENASA). They will provide free care for dogs and cats in Plaza del Pacífico in Puntarenas on July 23-25.
USNS Comfort Medical Mission
This is the seventh time that USNS Comfort has carried out a humanitarian mission in the Americas and the Caribbean. The first time was in 2007, the second in 2009, the third in 2010, the fourth in 2011 (when it came to Costa Rica), the fifth in 2015, the sixth in 2018 and now.
For the 2019 mission, the USNS Comfort will visit:
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Grenada
- Haiti
- Jamaica
- Panama
- Peru
- St. Kitts and Nevis.
- St. lucia
- Trinidad and Tobago
