The Panamanian Ministry of Health has officially established a new oversight body for victims of a historic poisoning case and their families. This commission, formed through a resolution published on October 27, aims to ensure state commitments to affected patients are met after years of advocacy.
Manuel Zambrano Chang, the Deputy Minister of Health, presided over the meeting that finalized the commission’s structure. It will include representatives from the victims themselves, the Ministry of Health (Panama), the Social Security Fund, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ombudsman’s Office, the National Assembly, and the Ministry of the Presidency.
Oversight and Fulfillment of Legal Rights
Edwin Vergara, president of the National Assembly’s Commission on Work, Health, and Social Development, emphasized the group’s core purpose. Its primary objective will be to audit the state’s compliance with obligations owed to officially recognized victims.
“We have a step to follow which will be to organize the commission, form it, establish a list of points and other aspects to fulfill, and follow up on them,” [Translated from Spanish] Vergara stated.
The commission’s reactivation was formalized by Official Gazette Resolution 1287, dated October 20. Deputy Minister Zambrano Chang framed the state’s duty in clear terms. He explained that victims holding official identification cards are not receiving a privilege but a legally mandated right.
“If the patient has a card that indicates they are affected, the Law says they must have certain considerations, like medicine, attention,” [Translated from Spanish] affirmed Zambrano Chang.
Call for Lifelong Care and Systemic Reform
The Ombudsman’s Office (Defensoría del Pueblo) used the meeting to outline urgent needs beyond immediate oversight. The office stressed the necessity for a lifelong comprehensive care pathway for victims. It also called for strengthening the Social Security Fund’s Toxicology Center and guaranteeing timely treatment supplies.
Establishing effective non-repetition mechanisms was another key demand. “The victims have the right to be heard, attended to, and repaired,” the institution highlighted. This move follows public pressure from victim advocacy groups who had decried stalled government action.
Just days before the announcement, the Committee of Relatives of Victims for the Right to Health and Life (Cofadesavi) issued a direct appeal to President José Raúl Mulino. The group’s president, Gabriel Pascual, demanded concrete responses and a reactivation of monitoring mechanisms he described as paralyzed.
“We have been demanding that the current government sit down, dialogue, and provide an immediate solution. The proof is there: a commission that has not been reactivated. The follow-up commission has not been able to be reactivated. The health evaluation commission is in a coma,” [Translated from Spanish] expressed Pascual on October 19.
Pascual also raised serious allegations about the victim verification process. He claimed more than 500 cases were dismissed by the evaluation commission not on scientific grounds but for political reasons. This action, he argued, violated established law.
He further noted that recommended toxicology tests by the Supreme Court of Justice have still not been performed. The poisoning incident, linked to contaminated cough syrup containing diethylene glycol, remains a painful chapter in Panama’s public health history. The new commission now faces the critical task of translating official resolutions into tangible support and justice for the affected families.