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Health Care, Disease Control, Crime and Safety in Panama

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The Health system of Panama is based on the Constitution, which mandates the government to ensure the people’s free access to comprehensive prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation services. At the helm of these functions are the Ministry of Health and the National Health Authority which are responsible for guiding the country’s health sector. While the Ministry of Health is responsible for public health programs in the country, supervising hospitals and health care centers, and for monitoring outreach programs for communities, support is also provided by the Social Security Fund, the Ministry of Economy and Finance in financing the entire health sector, and the National Water and Sewerage System.

The health system is divided into 14 health regions where there is equal presence of the Ministry of Health and Social Security in the delivery of health care services, which are participated in by hospitals and other health care centers for a ratio of 11 physicians and 10 professional nurses for every 10,000 inhabitants.

To implement the policy of providing the people with universal access to health programs and improving the quality of health services especially to the economically disadvantaged population, the government proposes to extend the health coverage for the people, launch new initiatives like health caravans and the Social Protection System, and select households or families in extreme poverty level to benefit from multi-sectoral and inter-sectoral interventions. The Ministry is also assisted by the Gorgas Memorial Institute and the Health Technical Council in the implementation of the government’s general health policy for the country, especially on scientific and technological research on health, and advisory services related to the granting of permit to individuals to practice medicine.