News
Tuesday 5th July 2022.
July 5, 2022
The Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre, reiterated that the mandatory use of the mask, to prevent the spread of covid-19 , will only apply in medical facilities, public transport and for those who handle food. The clarification of the head of Health, is that after, the report to the Nation in the National Assembly, President Laurentino Cortizo said that as of next Monday, July 11, the use of masks will not be mandatory in open and closed places. “In health facilities, public transport and food handlers, the use of the mask is permanently mandatory,” Sucre explained to the media on Monday. “In offices, both public and private, it will already be by recommendation follow-up,” he pointed out.
The National Authority for Government Innovation (AIG) made official this Monday, July 4, the transfer of the digital information system for vaccines against Covid-19 to the Ministry of Health (Minsa). The Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre, stated that the National Department of Informatics and Innovation will be responsible for managing the technological platform on vaccination against the virus. Sucre stressed that the teams of both entities have been working for weeks and that the AIG will also be following up on this transfer to ensure that the platform functions normally. Mechanisms were established on this platform to schedule appointments for the vaccination process that began in early January 2021 and also to record dose data. The Coordinator of Plans and Programs of the Information Sciences Directorate of AIG, Gina Villafañe, explained that the Panavac-19 Information system is made up of three modules: one is the Vaccine Registry, through which the identity card is scanned and the batch of the vaccine that each person is receiving. It is also made up of the Logistical Traceability module that allows the management and traceability of all batches of vaccines, from the moment they arrive in the country until they are applied. In addition, the Citizen Procedures module, which immediately provides information on immunization against the new coronavirus. the possibility of downloading secure mobility QR codes and vaccination certificates for international mobility.
The third liquidator judge of criminal cases, Baloisa Marquínez , resumed on Monday morning, the preliminary hearing of the people investigated for the alleged commission of the crime of money laundering through the company New Business, which managed the acquisition of the group Editora Panamá América (Epasa). In this resumption, the Public Ministry (MP) concluded with its allegations and later began the interventions of the private technical defense and the public defense. Prosecutor Emeldo Márquez said that a call to trial was requested for 16 people and a dismissal for 10. The investigation of this case began in 2017 when the MP revealed that the purchase of Epasa was managed through a basket company called New Business and that the money contributed came from contracts awarded to various companies for the execution of infrastructure works. In the investigation, bank information and international assistance were obtained.
The third electoral administrative judge Marybeth Álvarez alleges that there is no judicial pronouncement that makes it impossible for former President Ricardo Martinelli to be prosecuted for reasons other than the one that was subject to his extradition from the United States. That is the content of the ruling issued on June 28, 2022, by which Álvarez ordered to lift the electoral criminal jurisdiction of former President Ricardo Martinelli. Álvarez’s ruling is explicit in detailing the grounds for which, in her opinion, the principle of specialty, which according to Martinelli’s defense protects him against any criminal case, has already lost its effect. One of the points that Álvarez presents is the fact that in the case known as New Business , the Third Criminal Court Liquidator resolved on March 9, 2021 an incident of nullity proposed by Luis Eduardo Camacho González, from the team of lawyers of Martinelli, in which allusion is made to the principle of specialty. And on that occasion the court ruled that the principle of specialty is no longer applicable to the former president, and that article 548 of the Procedural Code, number 2, states that “if the extradited person has managed to leave the national territory after his freedom and voluntarily returned to Panamanian territory, after leaving it, he would lose the protection of the specialty principle.”
The administrator of the Authority for Government Innovation (AIG), Luis Oliva announced that the MedicSol program (Solidarity Medicines) will also include patients who are not affiliated with the Social Security Fund (CSS) and who are treated in the units of the Ministry of Health (Minsa). Oliva explained that this would be developed in a second phase of the MedicSol Pilot Plan, which was launched last week by the government. It is important to highlight that the date on which this second phase of the plan could begin, which will include uninsured people, has not yet been defined.
The 33% rise in the price of a barrel of crude oil in the first half of the year, the logistical problems in China and the United States, and Russia ‘s invasion of Ukraine shot up the production costs of the Panamanian industrial sector by up to 20%. Luis Frauca, president of the Union of Industrialists of Panama (SIP) , pointed out that this sector is facing shortages of many supplies and raw materials, as well as rising prices for others due to the war in Ukraine To level the balance, businessmen ask the Government to set a ceiling on the freight price that is used in the formula to calculate the import tax. Although more than a month has passed since the suggestion was presented, backed by 8 unions, the SIP president indicates that they have not received any feedback from the authorities