Medical Faculty on critical list

Panama is a country in full demographic growth, its population is aging, and health challenges are increasing. This should be reason enough for governments to have become aware of the need to train more doctors and other health specialists to meet the greater needs of the whole society. While new hospital complexes are being built and tendered, there is a lack of medical professionals to offer the health services required by these new facilities. All these challenges demand that the main center of professional training for the doctors of the country, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Panama, be in the most adequate conditions for this great challenge. The reality is different. The current facilities are obsolete, they lack modern equipment and the student population is overcrowded. It is urgent for the improvement of the health of Panamanians to have a Faculty of Medicine for the 21st century. The unforgivable delays of the outgoing government in this task must be corrected by the new administration. It is unacceptable that the education of physicians is in critical condition.LA PRENSA, June 21