Costa Rica News – Hundreds of people visit the Zapote fairgrounds looking for fun and most make it back home just fine. A good number of people, however, end up in the hospital due to being injured either in the bullring or in the fairgrounds.
In the last seven years, the Red Cross served 4,070 people who were injured in Zapote. In the 2013-14 festival there were 666 people attended to by the Red Cross, 458 of them which were considered emergencies.
Of the emergencies, 215 were hurt in the ring, 229 in the exhibition area and 14 on the mechanical rides
The most serious injuries were perforations of bullfighters. Sometimes people got injured not by the animals but by the other improvised fighters running and falling onto each other.
Head and neck injuries are always rushed to the hospital to rule out spinal cord damage. 37 injured ended up in the Calderon Guardia or the Carlos Duran Clinic. Including medical emergencies, the number rises to 47.
In the 2012-13 event, the total cost of care was about $2,000 for each of 38 patients plus one patient that required reconstructive surgery costing $68,000. INS offers a special insurance for bullfighters.
Other injuries that were less traumatic included dizziness, low blood pressure, food poisoning, alcohol poisoning, injuries from bumper cars and burns and cuts among those preparing food.
