Moderators Moderator_02 Posted March 11, 2021 Moderators Share Posted March 11, 2021 Quote Veto of move to lower medical exams assured Posted 10/03/2021 President, Nito Cortizo assured on Tuesday, March 9 that a controversial resolution of the National Assembly lowering the score required for the certification of medical graduates as a requirement to enter internship will be repealed. The president maintained his opinion that the score must be "raised". When asked if he was going to repeal it, he said: "of course." reports La Prensa In the midst of the harsh questioning of citizens and 41 medical unions due to the alleged pressure from the Ministry of Health (Minsa) towards the Inter-institutional Council for Basic Certification of Medicine to lower the certification score, Health Minister Luis Francisco Sucre, washed his hands of the issue and said that the decision was made by the Council unanimously. On Monday, Minister Sucre met with the members of the council, with the rector of the University of Panama (UP), Eduardo Flores, and with the dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Enrique Mendoza, and was agreed to analyze the elimination of the resolution. Mendoza said that the position of the President was reaffirmed, that “the certification process continues, that the score will be respected, that undergraduate medical education will be strengthened and postgraduate education will be strengthened. Mendoza, who last Friday revealed - in an audio released on social networks - that in recent weeks there had been "pressure" from senior officials of the Minsa, yesterday defended himself against accusations made by some deputies against him. He indicated that the origin of the problem was not the Minsa, but legislative initiative 525, which seeks to modify Law 43 of 2004, on the certification and recertification regime for health professionals and technical specialists. The proposal seeks to “defer” the application of the basic certification test for doctors, nurses, dentists and veterinarians to enter the internship so that they can comply as soon as possible with the obligation imposed by the State for two years. The proposal came from PRD deputies Crispiano Adames and Mariano López. Adames railed in the Assembly [on Monday that some medical students received the exam papers in advance. Mendoza denied that there is an advantage in the certification exam for UP medical students. The examinations in completely sealed boxes; that at the time of reviewing the boxes, the representatives, even from private universities, are observing that they are sealed. “The exam cards are opened the same day as the exam. Each exam is sealed, when the student receives it, he breaks a seal in order to open the question book. They have four hours to answer 160 questions, "he explained. Jaime Sánchez, president of the Panamanian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said that a group of doctors was invited by the Medical College to participate in the evaluation process of the exam on March 5"It is not possible to cheat, as they allege," https://www.newsroompanama.com/health/veto-of-move-to-lower-medical-exams-assured Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Moderator_02 Posted March 13, 2021 Author Moderators Share Posted March 13, 2021 Quote Doctors march to protest bill to lower standards Posted 12/03/2021 Medical students, doctors and authorities from the University of Panama marched to the National Assembly on Thursday to demand the withdrawal of a bill that regulates the certification and recertification of doctors. The proposal also seeks to lower the qualification score currently required to receive medical certification. The Rector of the University of Panama, Eduardo Flores said that they wanted to show the National Assembly "that the University of Panama, the Faculty of Medicine, and the vast majority of doctors in this country are against repeal the certification exam that represents the quality of the Panamanian doctor. " https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/doctors-march-to-protest-bill-to-lower-standards-2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Moderator_02 Posted March 14, 2021 Author Moderators Share Posted March 14, 2021 Quote OPINION – A Shameful Disaster Posted 13/03/2021 How can we aspire to become a developed country, modifying laws and decrees to deliberately be an underdeveloped country? The Inter-Institutional Council for Basic Certification in Medicine and a couple of unpresentable deputies maintain their initiatives - a resolution and a bill, respectively - to lower the necessary qualification in order to verify the minimum knowledge to practice medicine in Panama. The council has not repealed its shameful resolution and the deputies continue to lower their grades and postpone the test through an amendment to the law in force since 2004. The damage of these absurd initiatives has seriously harmful effects on the suitability of doctors and will definitely harm its academic image, both in Panama and in the rest of the world. Their diagnoses will be the subject of doubts and their decisions in the field of medicine will be questioned. This is what awaits the new doctors, in the current scenario. And that is a complete injustice to those who do make an effort: to carry the mediocre image of their colleagues. This is a disaster, promoted by equally mediocre officials.- LA PRENSA, Mar. 13 https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/opinion-a-shameful-disaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Moderator_02 Posted March 14, 2021 Author Moderators Share Posted March 14, 2021 Quote Lowering the bar on medical exams nullified Posted 13/03/2021 After a week of protests by doctors, medical students medical unions and university staff the Inter-Institutional Council for Basic Certification in Medicine (CICBM) has annulled the March 3, resolution which established a reduction of the score for medical certification in the country. The resolution led to the resignation of the three representatives of the University of Panama resign from the Certification Council While 41 medical unions opposed changes in certification The nullificaiion resolution begins to take effect from its publication in the Official Gazette , so the students who took the certification exam will be evaluated with the parameters in force before March 3. According to a statement from the General Directorate of Information, the CICBM made that decision after evaluating all the arguments of the members of the council. https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/lowering-the-bar-on-medical-exams-nullified Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Moderator_02 Posted March 30, 2021 Author Moderators Share Posted March 30, 2021 Quote Bill to lower certification bar opposed by medical societies Posted 29/03/2021 The Medical College of Panama and 41 medical societies have issued a joint communique – saying that a bill to modify the certification and recertification regime for health professionals and technical specialists - is harmful and threatens the health of the Panamanian population The project, which last week entered the agenda of the plenary session of the National Assembly for its second and third debate, maintains the aspiration of deferring the medical certification for after the internship "In the careers that have this requirement and in the other careers, once the title is obtained ”. According to the organizations, the certification exam “ is an international tool that, in addition to guaranteeing the quality of the professional who enters the health system, also serves to evaluate training universities and match studies and teachings within such a delicate profession in charge of the Health". Likewise, it allows assigning internship places based on academic merits. Therefore - the unions expressed in a statement - postponing the certification exam, after the internship is over, endangers the most vulnerable population in the country. They indicated that since the examination was applied "no doctor during the internship has been dismissed or expelled for professional incompetence." Thus, the Medical College of Panama and the 41 medical societies requested that bill 525 be immediately withdrawn from the National Assembly and not to proceed with its discussion. The project - promoted by PRD deputies Mariano López and Crispiano Adames - has been the target of criticism in recent weeks. On March 5, a resolution of the Inter-Institutional Council for Basic Certification in Medicine lowered the score to pass the pre-internship exam but, after questioning, that resolution was repealed. https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/bill-to-lower-certification-bar-opposed-by-medical-societies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Moderator_02 Posted March 31, 2021 Author Moderators Share Posted March 31, 2021 Quote The road to medical mediocrity La Prensa's polical cartoonist's take on the bill to lower the bar for medical certification Posted 30/03/2021 PRIDE is the reason for some deputies. They do not understand reasons or arguments or advice or suggestions. They believe they are gods, that what they say is the only and absolute truth. There is no, except in the National Assembly, union, professional or student who has not rejected the absurd and chilling bill proposed by deputies to defer medical certification for after the internship and that it is the Ministry of Health that grants the suitability to doctors in Panama. This is nonsense. All of us in Panama are witnesses of how the Ministry of Health can behave with political criteria instead of technical ones. We will witness that cronyism or patronage will be the yardstick to measure knowledge, and we will even witness the medical fitness trade. The irony is that politicians are the first to catch a plane to treat their illnesses with foreign doctors; They are the first to despise the public health system, and now they want to inherit from us a system that, on paper, is based on academic merit ... but in practice, it will be the lever. When will these politicians understand that the country has more than enough with its mediocrity to extend it to others? LA PRENSA, Mar. 30 https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/the-road-to-medical-mediocrity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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