Conflicting answers for Mental Health Center staff

CONFLICTING MESSAGES from the president and Panama’s Health Minister are confusing staff Institute of Mental Health (Insam).

Javier Díaz, Minister of Health, said that the land where the center is located will not be sold, but indicated that plans are afoot to build a storage facility for medicines and vaccines, and a workshop for ambulances.

His statement contradicts Twitter message released Tuesday by President Ricardo Martinelli, saying that "The National Government has not ever thought of closing the Psychiatric Hospital of Panama. Please no more commotion about it. "
In a statement released by the press department of the Ministry of Health (MoH) on Friday June 21, Diaz said that "we have at no time tried to sell the Insam grounds". However, in this note is added that there should not be this kind of specialized institution, but in a comprehensive management of patients.
That is why we are working on a plan to modernize the national psychiatry, which "is not aimed at retaining specialty hospitals, asylums or specialized institutes, they should be handled seamlessly together with other branches of medicine ".
Before the imminent closure of Insam it must be ensured that the existing hospital network in the metropolitan area has conditions to receive these psychiatric patients and that they can provide comprehensive care, the letter states.
At noon on Tuesday, Insam staff closed the highway José Agustín Arango, demanding that the center not be clsed,, however. They were removed a National Police crowd control unit.
Elvia D'Orcy, coordinator of the Comprehensive Care Center Insam, told Prensa.com that after this fact they had a meeting with Edgar Guerrero, chief of Mental Health of San Miguelito and Algis Torres, Regional Director of Health of San Miguelito, Las cumbres and Chilibre. And was given a document stating that the center would not be closed. However, D'Orcy said they did not trust the note, and were making inquiries to validate the veracity of the document, otherwise the protests would continue.
"With the experiences we have had in the talks with the Government, we cannot believe anything they tell us without seeing a formal document," said D'Orcy.