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03 Apr 2006 |
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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, April 03, 2006
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Hospital Denies Kidney Theft,
Asks Canadian to Apologize
Calderón Guardia Hospital has asked the Ministry of Foreign Relations to “establish a judicial process” against a Canadian man, demanding he retract and apologize for comments he made alleging the hospital stole his kidney for use in another person.
(Click for more)
Arias Receives
Presidential Credentials
President-elect Oscar Arias received the credentials necessary to for him to swear in as President May 8 at the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) Friday.
(Click for more)
U.N.-Sponsored Workshop
Focuses on Youth, Sexual Health
Costa Rican young people ages 15-25 and representatives from government institutions such as the National Institute for Women (INAMU), Public Health Ministry and Public Education Ministry (MEP) gathered over the weekend to talk about sexual health and gender at a workshop sponsored by the nonprofit Family Care International and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
(Click for more)
Commercial Deficit
Increased
34.1% So Far in 2006
Costa Rica's commercial deficit increased 34.1% in the first two months of 2006 compared to the same period in 2005, growing from $396.8 million to $532.4 million, according to statistics published Friday on the Central Bank's Web site.
(Click for more)
April 03
4th Luz de Luna Summer Festival
Concerts, art exhibits, dance and acting performances, April 3-9, 6 p.m., in front of Santa Ana Catholic Church, west of San José. Info: 203-5822, 376-2621.
Little Theatre Group (LTG) Open House
Including a surprise presentation, 7-9 p.m., Blanch Brown Theater, Escazú, west of San José. Info: 355-1623.
“The (Female) Odd Couple”:
Neil Simon's Broadway comedy performed in English by Dominical Little Theatre, today and tomorrow, reception at 5:30 p.m., play 7 p.m., Hotel Roca Verde, Playa Dominical, southern Pacific coast. Info: 374-4093.
Play “Palindromos”
7 p.m., Fine Arts Theater, University of Costa Rica campus, east of San José. Info: 207-5529.
Edited By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
Hospital Denies Kidney Theft,
Asks Canadian to Apologize
By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff
lbaxter@ticotimes.net
Calderón Guardia Hospital has asked the Ministry of Foreign Relations to “establish a judicial process” against a Canadian man, demanding he retract and apologize for comments he made alleging the hospital stole his kidney for use in another person.
Torre Kelley, 27, was admitted to Calderón Guardia at 5:27 a.m. on March 9 after he fell approximately eight meters down a ravine, breaking his jaw and sustaining various other injuries. Following his release, he accused the hospital of removing his kidney unnecessarily and has insinuated that the organ was stolen so it could be given to someone else.
According to the hospital report, when doctors examined Kelley, they found that his left kidney had ruptured. Raul Valverde, the chief of the Surgery Department, told The Tico Times Wednesday that it had “exploded.”
Doctors then removed the kidney, without Kelley's consent. Dr. Carlos Castillo, head of Urology Services, wrote in a report that it was “an emergency surgery” and impossible at that point to wake Kelly and get his permission.
Kelly, who awoke to the surprise of having one less kidney and then refused treatment for his broken jaw, returned to his home in Kelowna, British Colombia, Canada, after being released from the hospital on March 14.
Kelley was unavailable for comment this week, having had his jaw wired shut, but in a previous interview with KING 5 News, based in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington, he questioned whether or not his kidney should have been removed.
A letter dated March 23, from the Costa Rican General Director of the Foreign Service, Michel Chartier, urged the hospital to respond, worried that otherwise it could “cause a lot of damage to the country's image.”
In a letter dated March 28 and signed by Castillo, Valverde and the hospital's General Director Luis Paulino Hernández, the hospital officially requested Chartier, by way of the foreign ministry, persue a judicial process against Kelley. It is unclear whether this could be done with Kelly in Canada.
Arias Receives
Presidential Credentials
President-elect Oscar Arias received the credentials necessary to for him to swear in as President May 8 at the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) Friday.
Arias was handed the credentials, similar to a diploma, by Tribunal President Oscar Fonseca. Vice-president-elects Laura Chinchilla and Kevin Casas also received their credentials.
“There is a time for everything, and the time for campaigning is over … Now we enter into a new era of working for the people of Costa Rica,” Arias said at the ceremony.
Arias thanked the Costa Rican people for “their trust in the liberty of our suffrage,” that was “an exemplary demonstration before the eyes of the world.”
This year's historically-close margin between Arias and Citizen Action Party (PAC) candidate Ottón Solís brought the Tribunal's manual recount of votes under a national spotlight as Costa Ricans waited a month after the Feb. 5 elections for the Tribunal to declare a winner (TT, March 10).
Meanwhile Fonseca expressed that “after a long process that put Costa Rica 's electoral system and the strength of the Tribunal to the test, today we are satisfied to have completed this process that culminated successfully.”
Arias, 65 years old and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987, is scheduled to be sworn in as President of Costa Rica for the second time on May 8, replacing President Abel Pacheco.
-Tico Times and ACAN-EFE
U.N.-Sponsored Workshop
Focuses
on Youth, Sexual Health
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
Costa Rican young people ages 15-25 and representatives from government institutions such as the National Institute for Women (INAMU), Public Health Ministry and Public Education Ministry (MEP) gathered over the weekend to talk about sexual health and gender at a workshop sponsored by the nonprofit Family Care International and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The goal of the workshop was to reflect on how different generations view gender in relation to sexual health, said UNFPA consultant Evelyn Durán. “We wanted the participants to ask ‘What does it mean to be a young woman or man in terms of sexual health?',” Durán explained. Participants were encouraged to brainstorm national health programs available for their generation and dialogue on how they could be improved.
The workshop was part of a UNFPA program called “Implementation of new Focuses on Sexual and Reproductive Adolescent Health” being carried out in Bolivia, Panama, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Addressing youth, particularly those who come from low-income families, the program seeks to empower them to make decisions about their health by participating in their communities and at a policy level.
At the workshop, which concluded yesterday, about 40 Costa Rican young people from youth groups all over the country worked on developing action plans for promoting health in their communities, Durán said. They were also paired up with “counterparts” from UNFPA, INAMU, MEP and the Public Health Ministry.
The idea is that the youth groups continue working with their counterpart agencies to implement these plans and make them sustainable.
Commercial Deficit
Increased
34.1% So Far in 2006
Costa Rica's commercial deficit increased 34.1% in the first two months of 2006 compared to the same period in 2005, growing from $396.8 million to $532.4 million, according to statistics published Friday on the Central Bank's Web site.
During January and February 2006, exports reached about $1.2 billion while imports reached about $1.7 billion, creating a commercial deficit of $532.4 million.
Prime materials for industry and agriculture remained the main imports during the first two months of this year, followed by consumer goods. Other imports include construction materials, fuels and other goods.
The main exports during the first two months of this year were industrial products, followed by agricultural products.
In 2005 the commercial deficit reached $2.8 billion, a 41.6% increase over 2004.
-ACAN-EFE