Ricardo Martinelli Calls for an Investigation into the $70 Million Cost Overrun of the Bugaba Hospital Due to the Abandonment of the Project
The hospital in Bugaba remained abandoned for 13 years.
Former President Ricardo Martinelli is advocating for an investigation into the $70 million overcharge that the Bugaba hospital, delivered this week, ended up costing. Martinelli recalled that he had put this project out to tender during his administration, but for unknown reasons it was suspended in 2015 and was not resumed during Laurentino Cortizo’s administration either. “I’m happy because the Bugaba hospital was inaugurated. The bad thing is that it cost us 70 million more, and there was a pandemic during which many lives could have been saved. It would be good to investigate,” he emphasized. According to the former president, this additional figure represents a theft and robbery of the public treasury because valuable state resources were wasted.
In this regard, Martinelli believes that a law should be reintroduced to punish these situations, just like the one Cortizo vetoed in the previous government. In October 2020, the then president vetoed the initiative that added provisions to the penal code relating to the paralysis and deterioration of public works. Martinelli said he will submit the project to debate with the deputies of the Realizando Metas caucus in order to have a regulation that guarantees the full weight of the law for these irresponsible people. The Bugaba hospital remained abandoned for 13 years; its inauguration will strengthen health and prevention services, directly benefiting more than 170,000 people in Chiriquí. The completion of this hospital brings hope to the local population.
It has gone from having dirty, neglected walls and an interior overgrown with trees and vegetation to a healthcare center with 172 inpatient beds, 3 operating rooms, and 27 medical offices, putting an end to the great sacrifices that residents of the area had to endure for years, having to travel to the district of David to access a hospital. The new building that will house the chemotherapy and hemodialysis services will have 15 chairs for hemodialysis treatment and 15 chairs for chemotherapy, both with their complementary areas. Upper floor: pediatric inpatient ward, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and surgery. It will also house a neonatal unit, intensive care unit, surgical area, and obstetrics and gynecology department with 3 modular operating rooms and 2 modular delivery rooms. This floor also contains the chapel or prayer room, medical staff residence, and specialty offices. It has a 5-year maintenance contract.
