Panama President Mulino Visits Girl Injured by a Stone during Protests and Calls for an End to the Clashes

On Friday morning, May 9, the President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino, visited the four-year-old girl who was hit in the head with a rock when the vehicle in which she was traveling with her family was attacked by hooded individuals, amid protests reported near the University of Panama.  The minor, diagnosed with a frontal traumatic brain injury, remains in the Intensive Care Unit at the Ciudad de la Salud. According to reports this morning, her progress has been satisfactory since her admission to the hospital on May 7.  The medical director of the City of Health, Guillermo Bailey, and the director of the High Complexity Pediatric Hospital, Alejandro Martínez, welcomed the president and accompanied him to the Intensive Care Unit, where he was able to see the patient, the Presidency reported.  The president also spoke with the girl’s mother and grandfather to express the support of the National Government and the Social Security Fund (CSS). 

According to the Presidency, the girl has been able to communicate verbally with her family, and her clinical progress has allowed her to be extubated.  (In a medical context, “extubated” means a patient has had an endotracheal tube (ETT) removed. An ETT is a tube inserted into the trachea (windpipe) to help a patient breathe, often used after surgery, injury, or illness. Extubation is the process of removing this tube once the patient is deemed able to breathe independently.) Doctors are now evaluating the next steps to contribute to her full recovery from the left frontal skull fracture.  During his visit, President Mulino called on citizens to reject the confrontation. “This is unspeakable; it cannot happen again,” he said. “Panama cannot live in conflict like this,” he emphasized.  For its part, the Metropolitan Primary Care Prosecutor’s Office opened an ex officio investigation into this incident, which has been condemned by various sectors of the country.