This Monday a technical table was installed, led by Vice President José Gabriel Carrizo, which seeks to establish an alternative to the high cost of medicines in the country and the shortage in public health facilities.
This table, made up of the State, health professionals, private companies, and other institutions, will meet weekly, make a diagnosis of the current situation, and prepare a roadmap. Later they will present a proposal to the president, Laurentino Cortizo.
The Minister Counselor for Health, Eyra Ruiz, explained that the same scheme will be used for the development of the roadmap as that of the continuous vaccination strategy, that is, it will be divided into phases and stages, and each one will last a specific time. .
According to Ruiz, the duration will be established as the issues are agreed upon in the meetings.
For his part, the director of the Social Security Fund (CSS), Enrique Lau, mentioned that “Panama continues to have the most expensive medicines in the region”, which significantly affects patients since they cannot purchase their medicines.
For Lau, barriers to entry must be eliminated and high-quality generic drugs and internationally proven safety must be allowed to reach Panama, “given that to the extent that there is a greater supply, to that extent the price of the drug should decrease”
The table is made up of the National Council of Private Enterprise, the University of Panama, the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama, the Federation of Patients with Chronic and Rare Diseases, Comenenal, CSS, Minsa, Acodeco, Public Procurement, Comptroller, Aig, Customs, Pharmacy and Drugs.
