Martinelli learned of CSS crisis through the media

Panama’s president, Ricardo Martinelli, first learned  through the media of the KPC bacteria which has killed 22 people in a Social Security (CSS) hospital.

He made the revelation  on Telemetro Reports on Friday, August 12, and said that the  CSS crisis must be solved, . But he opposed the idea of demolishing  the   Arnulfo Arias Madrid Hospital  where the deaths took place, and from which dozens of patients have been evacuated to another center.

He added that people should not be  alarmist over the issue of the crisis created by those  infected by the KPC. and it should not be allowed to destroy the Social Security system. "Nobody wants to privatize health or CSS or anything," he said. "You have to make it efficient."

Martinelli said the that CSS is a mega-institution that handles a large percentage of the health of Panamanians, but he  suggested that there be a a wide dialogue to discuss what to do with Social Security and added that the pension system should work properly.