Over  160,000 medical appointments lost during protests

During the three consecutive weeks of protests against the mining contract at least 160,000 medical appointments have been lost.

A report from the Service Provision Directorate shows that until November 8, 160,773 patients did not attend scheduled appointments at public health facilities.

Of that amount, 19,785 appointments (9.8%) correspond to the Health Ministry (Minsa) and 140,988 (56.8%) to the Social Security Fund (CSS).

The Registry and Statistics Department of the National Oncology Institute reported that between October 23 and November 7, 251 surgery appointments were scheduled. Of that number, 185 surgeries were performed and 66 could not be performed, as the patients could not make it to the appointment.

Ar San Miguel Arcángel Hospital, from October 24 to 31, 63 surgical procedures were performed and another 46 could not be carried out.

Ivonne Villarreal, director of Service Provision of the Minsa, said that each health facility must make a list of the appointments that its specialists stopped attending and reschedule the care sessions to reduce the arrears with patients.