Health Minister ousted in cabinet shuffle

Rosario Turner the most who led the team fighting the coronavirus pandemic for more than 100 days and was the most widely respected minister in the cabinet of President Laurentino   Cortizo was ousted as Health Minister on Wednesday, June 24 following a political gaffe last week.

Turner was replaced by Luis Francisco Sucre, who until Wednesday served as vice minister of the portfolio.

“The country has an unpayable debt to Dr. Rosario Tuner, under whose leadership we faced with determination and courage the fight against this dark pandemic (…),” said Cortizo when he announced Turner’s departure.

In recent days, Turner was criticized because as a PRD executive, he signed the resolution that called the deputies of that party to a meeting in a restaurant in the midst of quarantine.

Luis Francisco Sucre, the new Minister, gave some hints of his  management in the top spot: ” The strategies will vary as time goes by, and we will have to evaluate the behavior of the pandemic and of society.”

He said that not only are businessmen uneasy about the crisis. ” Ordinary people t are concerned, Panamanians who need to get out of their house, who have to go to work,” he said after praising Turner’s strategy in the fight against Covid-19.

The last public appearance of Turner as Minister of Health was in the Budget Commission of the National Assembly, on Wednesday to support transfers of items for $20.4 million to deal with issues related to the pandemic. Part of the money will be used to pay back wages of health personnel, and for food for patients and collaborators of the Luis Chicho Fábrega Hospital, in Santiago de Veraguas.

Several deputies, among them Yanibel Ábrego, of Cambio Democrático (vice-president of the commission) praised her work. They congratulated her on her role in the fight against Covid-19, and without any questions, gave the go-ahead to the millions.

OTHER FLIPS

There was also a change of helm in the Ministry of Social Development: Markova Concepción was replaced by María Inés Castillo, daughter of the former deputy of the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), Elías Castillo, now an Assembly advisor

Concepción becomes Panama’s ambassador to the United Nations.

The Minister of Housing and Land Management. Inés Samudio was  also shown the door and  replaced by Rogelio Paredes, who was serving as Deputy Minister