Health Politics Events Local 2025-12-03T13:07:46+00:00

Panama Unveils Medical Integration Plan with New Oncology Center

Panama has presented a medical services integration plan to the Council of Ministers, featuring a new oncology building at the City of Health to enhance patient care. The project also includes a pediatric emergency department and digital infrastructure upgrades.


Members of the Board of Directors of the Social Security Fund (CSS), the Ministry of Health (Minsa), and the National Oncology Institute (ION) presented the Council of Ministers with the progress of the medical services integration plan. This plan highlights improved oncological care through the construction of a new building for this specialty at the City of Health (CIDELAS).

Staff and doctors will be able to focus on deploying the national medical record, providing 24-hour care and service, and responding to the increase in appointments, emergencies, and medication delivery.

Additionally, it aims to leverage the services of the City of Health (CIDELAS) and allow for its gradual expansion, increasing and improving patient care.

During the presentation, given by the director of the CSS, Dino Mon; the Minister of Health, Fernando Boyd Galindo; and Marcos Young, Director of Medical Services and Benefits of the CSS, it was explained that due to its social impact on more than 100,000 specialized consultations, this new structure and other facilities are projected to expand the services provided to the Panamanian population.

The expansion plan includes the construction of a building for pediatric emergencies, as the pediatric tower at CIDELAS was not designed with emergency areas, and currently, triage is performed in tents.

This technology guarantees a more humane, equitable, and timely care, thus protecting the continuity of medical care.

The CSS also presented the project for services related to accommodation and management of the right to medical service, clinical record, and medication dispensing, which includes a main and redundant data center with interconnection, a 1,280-core processor, 20,480 GB of RAM, and 1,228.8 terabytes of storage.

In the Cabinet session, chaired by the President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino, the authorities requested approval for the new ION and its parking lots, which cover a construction area of 19,670 square meters.

The new ION building will have 9 levels, featuring an outpatient chemotherapy room with 90 chairs and 8 beds for prolonged treatments, among other facilities such as a clinical and molecular laboratory for the hematology service, and also a 6-level parking building with 272 spaces.

Likewise, areas for nuclear medicine will be enabled, as the equipment installed in radiology and MRI does not have a protection area.

This project is part of the integration process of the Minsa-CSS agreement.