Nurses from the Ministry of Health (MINSA) have joined the outright rejection of an initiative that would grant surgical technicians the qualification to perform functions in operating rooms. The bill had already been questioned by the National Association of Auxiliary and Technical Nursing Practitioners (ANPATE), but the conflict is now escalating with the direct entry of the National Nursing Directorate into the debate. Eusebia Calderón de Copete, National Director of Nursing at MINSA, was firm: the draft bill violates and usurps functions that belong to nursing staff. «It's not just about passing instruments; you have to know how to care for the patient from the moment they enter and watch over their well-being until they recover,» she emphasized. Calderón de Copete made it clear that the nursing union in Panama has 70 years of experience and has qualified personnel working in the operating rooms of both MINSA and the Social Security Fund, who are duly prepared to assume comprehensive care of the surgical patient. She assured that they have already presented their «outright» rejection to the deputies, warning that care in an operating room is not limited to passing instruments to the surgeon. «There are human beings in the operating room who need the best care,» she added. The controversy over Bill 255 is escalating.
