by Rod Hughes

Oscar Lopez, the sole elected representative of the miniscule Accessability without Exclusion party (PASE, the acronym in Spanish), stridently accused three prestigious hospitals here of benefitting from the elimination of tariffs on human organs destined for transplants if the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States passes.

All three hospitals, internationally respected for the quality of their medical care and their ethics, strenuously denied that they engaged in such a trade. Reactions of the three institutions, Clinica Biblica, CIMA and Clinical Catolica, ranged from calling the congressman’s statements “unfortunate” to terming them “irresponsibly aimed at confusing” the public on the CAFTA trade pact. Clinica Biblica, the oldest private hospital in the country and prominant in so-called “medical tourism” in which foreigners seek high-quality, reasonably priced care, refused to discount legal action for defamation.

Lopez, speaking on a regional radio station in the southern canton of Perez Zeledon, stated flatly that the three hospitals “do business with transplants.” His party opposes CAFTA, the subject of a binding nationwide referendum Oct. 7.

The English-language weekly The Tico Times also covered this subject recently but made it clear that the pact would remove tariffs from a bewildering host of items, some of them even illegal under Costa Rican law. Two of the tariff-exempt items were transplant organs and human tissue.

But Lopez did not stop there, but went on to say that removing tariffs on “kidneys and human viscera as a commercial value…could result in the elimination of indiginous peoples.”
Spokespersons for the hospitals noted that any organ transplants performed by the institution are under the strict control of the National Transplant Commission that also oversees similar operations in public hospitals here.

Mario Pacheco of CIMA San Jose characterized the congressman’s statements as “absurd,” pointing out that Costa Rica has actually imported corneas for transplants for years.

Jorge Cortes of Clinica Biblica said Lopez’s remarks “offend” the “medical staff” and that Lopez “is ignorant of the social and scientific history of an institution” (Biblica) that has been respected for 80 years.” Cortes added that Lopez’s “unfounded” statements “show evidence of bad faith.”

Kaeity Lindo of La Catolica as the clinic and hospital is known today, was also indignant. “La Catolica doesn’t import anything. Each patient has his private doctor and no one has even talked about trade in human organs (with us).”
In Costa Rica, congressmen (called “deputies”) are immune to prosecution or lawsuits, but only until the end of their terms. The only exceptions are if he voluntarily waives immunity or if an overwhelming majority of his colleagues vote to strip him of immunity.