Apatel: Minsa still fails to pay hospital hotels
The Panama Hotels Association (Apatel) described as shameful and regretted the delay and non-compliance of the payment by the Ministry of Health with hospital hotels that house patients with COVID-19 since April.
According to the union, the Minsa debt exceeds $8 million, to 8 hotels that have provided their facilities for the care of infected people.
The last payment made was made in June 2020 and the Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre, promised to make the disbursement effective by the beginning of last December, however, they have not received any transfer.
We must make the payment to the maintenance and security human resources assigned for secondary care functions in businesses, in addition to the payment to suppliers, indicates the union. In addition, the managers of these hotel-hospitals have received notifications from the electricity distribution companies, telecommunications and others demanding a commitment to pay for the service provided, otherwise they will have to shut down.
Oscar Jiménez, manager of the Nacional de David hotel, Chiriquí province, added that some hotels host up to 200 patients in their facilities.
The last payment made was made in June 2020 and the Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre, promised to make the disbursement effective by the beginning of last December, however, they have not received any transfer.
We must make the payment to the maintenance and security human resources assigned for secondary care functions in businesses, in addition to the payment to suppliers, indicates the union. In addition, the managers of these hotel-hospitals have received notifications from the electricity distribution companies, telecommunications and others demanding a commitment to pay for the service provided, otherwise they will have to shut down.
Oscar Jiménez, manager of the Nacional de David hotel, Chiriquí province, added that some hotels host up to 200 patients in their facilities.