Dean of medicine resigns from Covid advisory board

The dean of the Faculty of Medicine and member of the Health Advisory Council, Enrique Mendoza, resigned, from the Advisory Council due to the hiring of foreign doctors.

Mendoza sent a note to the Minister of Health,  in which he indicates that he does not agree with the political inertia, the predominance of economic interests and the lack of leadership that is leading to the death of hundreds of Panamanians and contagion of thousands of our compatriots with the viral infection.

“I have been consistent in my position that foreign citizens who do not comply with the laws of the Republic should not be allowed to practice medicine. Over the decades we have established legal and academic mechanisms that allow us to guarantee the knowledge and skills of health professionals who have the responsibility of caring for the lives of the isthmus. For me, it is not possible to accept that a collateral damage of the viral pandemic is ignorance and the destruction of these mechanisms ”, says the professor.

He also mentions in his writing that throughout this pandemic year they have worked in the Faculty of Medicine, in the National Commission for Medical Teaching, in the Inter-institutional Council for Basic Certification in Medicine, and in the Technical Health Council, achieving the admission of 400 internal doctors to national hospitals and preparing the start of work of more than 100 general practitioners in the month of January and 200 resident doctors as of February 1, 2021. All of them chosen according to national laws.

The reaction of the dean of the Faculty of Medicine comes after the Minsa announced the arrival of 220 Cuban specialists, who come to strengthen the health system in the midst of the pandemic. The entity called on specialists and general practitioners in the country, who are not in the system, to present their resume.