Hospital Clínica Bíblica
Hospital Clínica Bíblica is a hospital in San José, Costa Rica.
The Clínica Bíblica Hospital is the largest and most complete private hospital of Costa Rica. Founded in 1929, its mission focused on the comprehensive health of each one of its clients and, since then, has remained constantly growing and improving the quality of its services and infrastructure.
In the year 1921, a Latin American Mission project initiated in Costa Rica. Several missionaries, from different countries, arrived in the country with the purpose of helping the neediest. The married couple of Henry Strachan (of Scottish nationality) and Susan Strachan (of Irish nationality) joined this noble cause, after having served 17 years in Argentina as evangelical missionaries. Upon arriving in Costa Rica, they were moved and concerned by the deplorable conditions of the local health system. In general, the life expectation was forty-years old and there were diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria. The San Juan de Dios Hospital was the only one that existed and could only care for part of those ill. The main concern for the Strachan´s was children´s health, since they found that, out of each 1000 children born per year, 355 died; 50% before they were five-years-old. Malnutrition and neglect were the main problems suffered by children during that time.
Given the bleak overview, the Strachan´s decided to bring relief to the needy, the poor, and especially to the children. Thus, they worked to provide free medical services to these people and founded the Clinica Biblica Hospital, which would be in charge of the Latin America Mission for many years. The original idea was to create a pediatric center; however, the Strachan´s accepted the challenge and also managed the construction of the Maternity, the surgical section and the School of Nursing.
By the year 1968, significant progress in the field of national health had been made. The infant mortality rate had dropped considerably; nurses trained with great professional excellence and there were special programs for high-quality maternity care and post-surgical treatment. At the same time, there was a good network of hospitals associated with the Costa Rican Social Security, such as the Calderon Guardia Hospital and the Mexico Hospital.
In this new context, the Latin American Mission believed that, on the one hand, their work had already been served and it should leave in order to take their assistance to others; moreover, it no longer had the financial resources to continue with its selfless work. This involved the closing of the Clinica Biblica Hospital, which, so far, had been sustained by foreign aid. It had ample facilities, good medical staff and an excellent technological team. Nevertheless, without financial support, it was impossible to continue working.
Given this difficult situation, a group of businessmen from the evangelical community, represented by Eng. Enrique Cabezas, requested the missionaries their consent to establish an association that would continue administering the Hospital. The missionary David Howard, on behalf of the Latin America Mission, accepted this request, and that is how, in 1968, the Costa Rican Medical Services Association (ASEMECO), as we know it today, was established. The ASEMECO partners decided to continue with the original purpose of the Clinica Biblica Hospital and ratified its purpose of providing care to the needy. Having to finance itself, ASEMECO began selling its services to those who could afford them in order to continue serving low-income people with the profits that were obtained. Currently, the social project management programs of the Clinica Biblica Hospital are the core of the purposes contemplated in the statutes of ASEMECO. One third of the total profits of the Clinica Biblica Hospital are assigned to social project management.