Finally, the legislators established that the Senate will meet today at 10:00 a.m., while the Chamber of Deputies will deal with the document next Tuesday at 2:00 p.m.
DEBATE
Hernán Martínez, Vice Minister of Health, requested on Tuesday the extension of the emergency law that expired on December 30. However, the legislators decided that Lilian Samaniego, president of the Permanent Commission, write a new bill, due to some unnecessary articles that the latest version had.
Specifically, the questions were due to the fact that the expired law established certain concessions to various public institutions in addition to the health portfolio. Such as the Ministry of Justice, the Military Hospital, the Institute of Social Security (IPS) and the Ministry of Public Works (MOPC).
The new bill that extends the validity of the health emergency declared by law 6524 until June 30, establishes the following concessions; the purchase of vaccines and the expansion of the National Coverage Fund for those hospitalized by Covid-19.
It also establishes the delivery of resources for Health, the IPS, Clinics, Military Hospital and the Rigoberto Caballero Police Hospital, for the hiring of white personnel, due to the loss of several professionals affected by the disease.
The Ministry of Labor requested that the IPS receive resources to pay isolated or resting workers for positive Covid-19 cases. However, the request was ultimately not included.
ARGUMENTS
The arguments of the Ministry of Health focused on the gradual increase in cases and deaths. Hernán Martínez reported on Tuesday that from 600 weekly cases it went to 7,000 only in the first week of January. As for deaths, from an average of four daily deaths it went to 11 last Monday.
Despite the numbers, legislators showed their mistrust of the bill. This is due to the fact that the initiative initially established certain facilities for non-health institutions such as Public Works.
The fear of several deputies and senators is that the Executive will benefit from the ease of public purchases to divert resources in order to finance the proselytizing campaigns of this and next year.
Since the beginning of December, the project in question was already present in parliament for its treatment. However, due to the mistrust already explained, the deputies never discussed it. Therefore, on December 30 it expired.
The new project, presented by Samaniego, establishes to extend the health emergency until June 30, 2022.
