The School of Medicine at the University of Costa Rica (UCR) strongly disagrees with 2 measures related to the university rotating internship proposed by the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS): The measures are:
1) To start the internship, the student must pass a private institution’s test. It is called International Foundations of Medicine (IFOM). The cost of each exam is about 75 dollars that have to be paid by the students.
2) The allocation of the medical centers where they will practice will be chosen randomly.
The UCR stated that the measures, that so far have been established by an agreement between the UCR and the CCSS, violate students’ rights and don’t allow them to continue with their training.
In addition, they are also complaining about the lack of information regarding the test.
The refusal of the Center for Strategic Development and Information on Health and Social Matters to negotiate all the agreement’s aspects and their silence regarding all of our questions about the changes implications have forced both the school Board and the student population of UCR, to start a legal proceeding,
stated Elizabeth Salazar, director of the UCR Medical School.