Plans to replace a dilapidated hospital in Heredia, north of San José, with a modern new facility were unveiled yesterday to members of this community.

Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias announced an agreement made by the Social Security System (Caja) to contract the company EDICA Limitada to build a new hospital, to be named San Vicente de Paúl after the old facility it is replacing, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

The minister represented his brother, President Oscar Arias, who is staying close to his home because of a doctor's orders to rest his Achilles tendon.

The new $85 million hospital is expected to serve about 500 residents of Heredia and be completed in a little more than two years.

Caja president Eduardo Doryan said the hospital will be a “21 st century” facility with six buildings housing a laboratory, pharmacy, X-ray machines and outpatient area and will offer surgery, prenatal care, intensive care and rehabilitation facilities, among other health services.

“Finally we are getting out of a historic debt we have with the poor, with the elderly and the children of Heredia who greatly need a hospital where they are attended with quality,” said Fernando Sánchez, a National Liberation Party legislator from the province.