WYD: From fainting to Ebola, Panama readies

SOME 267 facilities of the Ministry of Health (Minsa) and the Social Security Fund (CSS) have been reinforced with personnel and supplies for the World Youth Day (WYD) Jan.22-27and plans made for every eventuality from fainting to the arrival of a visitor with Ebola symptoms.

The health network of the facilities of the Ministry of Health (Minsa) and the Social Security Fund (CSS) is prepared to attend to simple or complex emergencies that arise during the celebration of World Youth Day (WYD) and local concerns like lack of medicines for chronic patients in the CSS and the construction of a new Children’s hospital have slipped off the radar.
Iritzel Santamaría deputy director of Planning and liaison of the Minsa with the Executive of the WYD Organizing Committee said that the strategy includes simple interventions, from attending visitors fainting due to dehydration to more complex cases like suspicion of entry of people with the Ebola virus.
“Both the health infrastructures and the health personnel in all their specialties are prepared with their human resources and supplies to meet any demand that is presented, ” she said.
Controls
To deal with complex cases, such as the Ebola virus, a facility that was enabled in 2014 at the Hospital Irma de Lourdes Tzanetatos, has been re-activated The room was opened during the epidemic outbreak in Africa between 2014 and 2016.
The room, certified by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Atlanta, is part of the 267 Minsa and CSS facilities that will work on extended and schedules during WYD and pre-events.
Carlos Biebarach, a member of the WYD Executive  Organizing Committee, said that under international health regulations they maintain a routine health surveillance system at t ports of entry air, sea or land.
On  January 1, controls and sanitary surveillance protocols were increased in the five international airports, which, as part of the security plans, have new equipment, technology, and trained personnel.

The Irma Hospital of Lourdes Tzanetatos, , the Arnulfo Arias Madrid Hospital Complex, the Susana Jones Hospital and Pediatric Specialties of the CSS, as well as the Santo Tomás Hospital, San Miguel Arcángel Hospital and Hospital Del Nino, of the Minsa, are the hospitals of reference in the metropolitan area.
Totally some 32 hospitals, 30 comprehensive primary health care centers, 26 polyclinics, 5 polycenters, 126 health centers, 5 health subcenters, 17 care centers, among other facilities, are also available during extended hours.
Assistance centers to give immediate response to participants in the major events like the reception and opening ceremony of the WYD on Thursday, January 24 in Campo Santa María La Antigua, on the Cinta Costera , or during Saturday, January 26,vigil at the San Juan Pablo II Campus of Metro Park, in  Juan Díaz.