Panama Launches 'Doctors with Heart' Program to Combat Healthcare Backlog

For this purpose, this Wednesday the program Doctors with Heart was launched, an initiative that seeks to add specialist doctors to voluntarily contribute to eradicating the backlog in the services of the Social Security Fund (CSS).Mon stated that during his tours through the CSS polyclinics and hospitals, he has seen mothers waiting with faith, children who do not lose their smile despite the pain, and understood that his duty is not only to cure bodies but to accompany all lives.He highlighted that Doctors with Heart unites the CSS and the Office of the First Lady with doctors who decide to give the most valuable thing they have: their time, their knowledge, and their experience."This program exists for that; to remind us that many of you chose to be doctors so that that first 'I want to help' that brought you here does not get lost between routine, haste, and exhaustion," expressed Cohen de Mulino."With this program, we are adding doctors from Panama, as well as international cooperation brigades to help us organize and bring all this accumulated backlog of consultations and treatments up to date for the service of all Panamanians for their health," expressed Mon.The general director of the Social Security Fund (CSS) said that they have already covered 13% of what was planned to combat the surgical backlog and the goal is that by mid-2027 it must be eliminated not only in the area of surgery but in the others where there is a delay in the service to patients.VocationThe First Lady of the Republic, Maricel Cohen de Mulino, is the godmother of the Doctors with Heart program and in her speech she said that what is not taught in the university is the vocation to alleviate the pain of another human being.The backlog to be attacked is both surgical and of medical consultations, an Achilles' heel for the CSS, with appointments sometimes given with a year's wait for the patient.The official explained that doctors who want to donate their time must register on the CSS website, where all the participation conditions are posted.He highlighted that last year they managed to reduce the surgical backlog but acknowledged that there is still a long way to go."Here we don't talk about numbers, we talk about people who have waited years for an opportunity; of mothers, children, the elderly, who today can believe again, because someone decided to say 'I will go,'" highlighted the First Lady.The general director of the CSS committed to providing the institution's health facilities with supplies and medications so that each program journey can be carried out successfully.Subsequently, they will be called to a meeting, according to their specialty, to inform them of the dates of the brigades, which will be not only in the capital but throughout the country.