The Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre, pointed out that all sectors linked to the issue of medicines should sit at a single table to present the different initiatives and put together a single proposal.
“This technical table for medicines and we as a Government are not going to ignore the work that the representatives of chronic patients have been doing, and neither the authority of the Medical College, who are also sitting, and the National College of Pharmacies, nor the representatives of the National University of Panama and countless people and representations”, said Sucre.
He added that the work that is being carried out in that table and everything that is being worked on there cannot be ignored, so he added “that it would be disrespectful to say that we are going to set up a new table of medicines, the logical thing is that we all work in whole and all that it represents.
On the other hand, he reiterated that the position of all those involved in the negotiating tables is that there be white smoke; “To achieve this agreement, there must be a deposition of interests and there can be no separate intention.”
He added that representatives, for example, of patients, of medical and pharmaceutical associations and all organizations and unions related to the sector must also be present.
The head of Health said that, in this government administration, one of the main achievements was the reduction, from two and a half years to 30 days, of the term to obtain the sanitary registration for medicines.
“Before, to register a medicine, there were up to 130 steps, and that caused the medicine registration to last two years; For a year and a half in Panama, steps have been reduced and registration is taking place within 30 days”, he concluded.
Minister Sucre’s statements were made within the framework of the meetings of the technical subcommittee on medicines of the national dialogue table, which takes place at the Cristo Sembrador Center in the city of Penonomé, province of Coclé.
