You can click on any of the images on this blog and enlarge the photo.
A Health Care Crises in Panama
How Many Killed by Klebsiella Pneumoniae Carbapenemases (KPC) Bacteria in Panama?: Epaminondas Castillo on Sunday became another possible victim of the antibiotic resistant Klebsiella Pneumoniae Carbapenemases (KPC) bacteria in Panama. Castillo, who spent 40 days in the Intensive Care Unit of the coronary ward in the Specialized Building of the Social Security hospital, was admitted for heart disease but later was presumably affected by the KPC bacteria. This man, who suffered from heart disease, could be the 21st death caused by the KPC bacteria in Panama since it was detected a year ago. Yesterday prosecutors took Castillo's body to the Offices of Forensic Medicine to conduct rigorous tests and to determine the cause of his death.
Larry Notes: This crises has turned into a colossal mess. In a nutshell, it appears hospital administrators tried to cover up, rather than confront, this outbreak and as a result it got away from them. The special committee just now formed to study the crisis has confirmed the presence of the pathogen in 71 patients. These are not new cases, but the result the study of patient records dating back to August 2010. It also appears there may have been additional deaths over recent months that did not get identified.
As you may or may not be aware, getting ahead of one of these horrible bacteria in an enclosed environment (like a hospital) takes some drastic and decisive action. These killer bacteria do not sweep under the rug! To make matters worse, there are also some indications that the ‘cover-up’ went way up the national health care administration chain. Oh my!
This just in as I was posting this : A famous doctor with a national reputation, who has 40 years of experience, filed for the immediate separation of the head of the Social Security Fund and the National Director of Medical Services. He has also filed a criminal complaint against the head of the Social Security Fund for the alleged crimes of manslaughter and negligence. The doctor based his complaint on, "in August 2010 the presence of a nosocomial bacteria was reported in the operating rooms and intensive care unit at the Metropolitan Complex, but they did not react properly".
William Dathan Holbert - "Wild Bill" - Complaining About Prison Conditions
The confessed murderer William Holbert, aka "Wild Bill" presented a legal complaint against those responsible for the prison system. Holbert's lawyer, Claudia Alvarado, said the complaint is about alleged human rights violations in prisons throughout the country, among them overcrowding, and a lack of timely and adequate medical care. "Wild Bill" is being held in the public jail of David, Chiriqui for having murdered five people. (TVN)
Maybe Congress Should Visit Panama: Don Winter (Panama Guide) reports : A (recently passed) annual budget of $14.4 billion dollars is the largest in the history of the Republic of Panama. As the economy continues to grow and expand, the government of Panama is seeing more and more income (revenue, taxes, monies from all sources) and the administration of Ricardo Martinelli is hard at work, spending that money on all kinds of infrastructure projects, upgrades, improvements, and other new stuff. They are, in effect, pouring that money right back into the economy, stimulating even more growth. Panama has "fiscal responsibility" laws in place which put caps on how much the government can borrow and spend, as a percentage of the total GDP. And what's more, Panama is paying off it's debt and reducing the percentage of the budget that has to be used to service the existing debt … The economy in Panama just keeps chugging along. Hey - look - Panama actually has an annual budget. They are being fiscally responsible. Their debt rating is improving (up to investment grade for the first time). They are living within their means, paying their bills, and not getting in over their heads. As a result, unemployment is lower now than at any time in the last 45 years, and the economy is growing faster than any other in Latin America. Maybe the guys in Washington could learn a thing or two from little Panama...
The Drug War Continues: Police officers in conjunction with officials from the Anti Drug Prosecutor's Office incinerated today more than 5.2 tons of different types of narcotics. Police officials confirmed the destruction of a total of 4,485 kilos of cocaine, 592 kilos of marijuana and 34 kilos of heroin, which were burned at the Cerro Patacon landfill.
Snapshots From David
Oops: At 15 minutes after midnight Wed night (Thurs. morn, Aug 4th) I was rudely awakened because someone was trying to crawl in bed with me. Then I got awake and no such luck. We were having an earthquake - 4.6 on the Richter, centered about 25 miles from David. And then I was wide awake - watch a movie!
Is Panama 3rd World? This is probably one of the biggest misconception I run into when people in the U.S. question me about my ‘new home’. The simple answer is ‘No way,’ but it is not really a simple question.
On the one hand consider this. On the ground floor of the my hotel on the town center park, there is a small ‘soda’ that sells pastries, ice cream and coffee, a locally popular cafeteria, an appliance and electronics store, a computer and electronics repair facility, and (recently added) a bar and casino. And the casino has a state-of-the-art ATM machine so I no longer even have to walk across the street to the Nacional Bank’s machine. And right outside on the sidewalk is a new machine that will add minutes to your cell phone automatically (just select your carrier, enter your phone #, insert $1-$10 and your phone buzzes to tell you the minutes where added. The vast majority of the 4 million cell phones in Panama are not on monthly plans). There are three cable and two satellite TV companies to choose from and a free government provided WiFi system. And, David is ‘small town’ compared to Panama City.
But, on the other hand, there are definitely some differences that remind you ‘Dorothy, we ain’t in Kansas anymore.” The most noticeable is private automobiles. To use a U.S. analogy, though admittedly a broad generalization, the people who own cars are the upper middle class and above, say management level types. However, public transportation is everywhere. You can go practically any place in town, and in the country, by modern, clean and inexpensive bus. And taxis in David are knee-deep, so you can go almost any place in town for a $1.
The real difference is in what the Panamanians refer to as ‘the interior’, and it does have a 3rd world flavor in many ways. Since South Carolina is about the same size and population as Panama, let’s use S.C. as an example. Now imagine that the Interstate comes south out of Charlotte runs through Columbia and dead-ins down to Charleston, and that is the only way to transit the state. A third of the population (about 1 million) live in the capital of Columbia, another 1 million live in 4-5 smaller towns strung along and fairly close to the interstate, and the final third are mostly indigenous Indians of three different tribes living on reservations out in the boondocks, which make up a big portion of the land area of the state.
One of those indigenous groups is literally living in the ‘loin cloth and blow gun’ era in the jungles near the Colombian border. And on most of the huge Ngobe Bugle Camarca (reservation) in this part of Panama, during the six months of the rainy season, the dirt roads of the interior are basically impassable. Would it surprise you to find that on the reservations thing are grim (hmm, sounds familiar). Education, health care, infant mortality, life expectancy are significantly less than in the modern parts of the country.
Panama is one of, if not ‘the’, most prosperous nations in Latin America, and definitely outshines its neighbors in Central America. So you ask, “Why don’t these problems get fixed?” I suspect for the same reasons that the American Indian reservations situation continues to exist. "Out of sight, out of mind and no political clout!"
A Snapshot Look At Health Care in the David/Boquete Area: Lee Zeltzer, an expat who lives in Boquete, just recently posted a very informative article on his blog which tells an interesting story about the health care system here in Panama. I suggest you might want to take a minute and read his article. This is the link:
My Book – ‘Angels in Panama’
Judy Brown from Texas sent me a nice review of my book. She also included this picture with is most appreciated and very clever. Thanks again Judy.
Bad News – Due to some kind of disconnect between the publisher and retailers, the ebook version of my book on both Amazon (Kindle) and Barnes and Noble (Nook) are priced off the chart. I am trying to get that resolved, but until it is I have removed those links from my postings.
The link below is for the paperback version of my book from Publish America (the publisher) I have also included a link to my website where you can read excerpts of ‘Angels in Panama’ if you want.
Paperback from Publisher $9.95
Till Next Time. Pura Vida
Recent Comments