The United States donates a health center worth $900,000 to a rural community in Panama

Panama City, October 20 The United States has donated a $900,000 health center built in the rural community of El Salto de Chuconac in Panama’s indigenous Embera and Ounan region, which opened Thursday, authorities report.

The center, which contains a reception area, an administrative office, rooms for general medicine, nursing and dentistry, a pharmacy, bathrooms and a sterilization room, “is an example of the strong friendship between” Panama and the United States, said the head of the center. US Embassy Mission, Stuart Tuttle.

“We are pleased to be able to contribute to the health and well-being of hard-to-reach communities, and knowing that this center will allow the Ministry of Health to expand its work in Darien, Embera and Wunan District to preserve the population is healthy and prosperous,” the diplomat added, according to a press release issued by the embassy. in these areas in Panama.

For his part, Health Minister Luis Francisco Sucre said, “The new health facility enhances primary care in this remote region of the country,” according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Health (Mensa).

“Since the beginning of our administration through the Unified Forces Plan, we have had a great interest in health and human rights, with a general policy targeting vulnerable populations,” he added.

There are seven indigenous ethnic groups in Panama: Embera, Wonan, Guna, Ngabe, Bugli, Nassau and Berry, grouped territorially into Six Gumarca, Embira, Wonan, Guna Yala, Ngabe Bugli, Madugande, Argandi and the latter Nassau. They are generally rural communities mired in poverty.

A study presented in 2017 put the multidimensional poverty rate in the Ngabe-Bogle district at 95.4%, while the indicator at the national level was 19.1%.

The US Embassy said the El Salto Health Center is a donation from the US Army Southern Command’s Humanitarian Assistance Program to the Panamanian Ministry of Health.

Through this program, the US government has provided $3 million in humanitarian aid to Panama since 2021, including El Salto and Quebrada de Hacha health centers in the Ngäbe-Buglé region, as well as hospitals, and added phones and respirators. Diplomatic source. EFE

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