The unfulfilled promise of ‘Health for All’

Almost twenty years have passed since the need to build a new headquarters for the National Oncology Institute (ION) was raised, but no government since the 2010s has completed the project, which is an urgent need, given that the current facilities lack technical and specialized capacity, as well as facilities for patients and their families. The Minister of Health admitted that there is no date to build this structure, whose cost is close to $450 million. The humanity of our politicians is a great hypocrisy since there is no such thing as “equal health for all” unless they mean that the lousy health provided by the Government is for all, as has really been the case for decades. The lack of budget to build a new Faculty of Medicine at the University of Panama –another work that has been waiting for decades– and now the lack of money for the ION tell us how interested politicians are in the health of patients from all over the world. country. Instead, we see a list of officials grow without position, without functions, and without justification, only to swell the ranks of clientelism in order to guarantee the re-election of cynical and conscienceless politicians. LA PRENSA, Mar.28.