Panama's Health Ministry Prepares List of Medicines for Purchase under Critical Shortage

For next week, it is expected that the final review of the list of medicines to be acquired through this Critical Shortage process, stemming from Law 419 on medicines, will finally be made. The list will first be presented to the Minister of Health and then to President José Raúl Mulino for subsequent publication in the official gazette, and the acquisition acts will be carried out through the Panama Compra platform, highlights the Minsa. Minsa recalls that the medicine acquisition process is independent of those where health institutions have already carried out purchase acts or are scheduled to do so, considering that it is a critical shortage or to prevent it from occurring. The Ministry of Health confirmed that the Critical Shortage Commission has not only been duly installed but has also met to review the lists of medicines from different health institutions in the country. The meetings have been conducive to identifying which lines of medicines could be acquired jointly by these public institutions. The commission, created by Executive Decree 20 of September 19, 2026, is made up of the Minsa, the Social Security Fund, the Ombudsman's Office, the Panamanian Medical College, the National College of Pharmacists, and the National Federation of Associations of Patients with Critical, Chronic, and Degenerative Diseases. According to the Minsa, patronage hospitals such as Santo Tomás Hospital, the Children's Hospital, and José Domingo de Obaldía Hospital have shown interest in participating in this process, especially due to the specialty medicines they handle.