Specialists warn president of bureaucratic mess in Covid-19 fight

Medical specialist at the Santo Tomás Hospital (HST) frustrated with bureaucratic   hold-ups have gone to the fountainhead and sent a note to President Cortizo, warning that they are running out of  medical supplies that were needed “yesterday”  to fight the coronavirus

In a letter bearing the signature of the president of the Association, of of Specialist Doctors, Juan Carmelo Wong,  Cortizo is called on  to intercede to achieve delivery of personal protective equipment.

The doctors argue that the board and the HST administration are doing what is humanly possible to obtain  the material they need to work, but the local market is depleted and in the next few weeks there will most likely be no supplies to buy in the country.

For example, they indicate that contacts were made three weeks ago from the hospital for the purchase of 150,000 N-95 3M masks, but due to different “bureaucratic procedures”, the purchase could not be made.

“We don’t need this for tomorrow, we needed it for yesterday. The time for advice and  more advice has passed, we require people to make decisions and execute them with transparency and without corruption, “says the document written by the doctors.

This week Cortizo held a meeting with authorities from the Social Security Fund and the Ministry of Health to install a  joint purchasing table between the two entities, and  streamline the process of purchasing equipment and medical  supplies.

The purchase of supplies has been dogged with purchasing foul-ups and allegations of corruption since the beginning of the pandemic.