SOME 2,700 medical appointments, including scheduled surgeries, in the Social Security System (CSS) alone, were cancelled because of the “unexpected” soccer holiday on Wednesday, October 11, called by President Juan Carlos Varela after the national team qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The Director of the CSS, Alfredo Martinez, said that since  Wednesday, October 11, the  Department of Health Records and Statistics has been working on a schedule to recover the quotas and surgeries that were unfulfilled. Doctors will be asked to make up time on Saturdays

In the Arnulfo Arias Madrid Hospital Complex of the CSS  in Panama City, between  900 and 1,000  patients are dealt with each day in the different specialties that are offered.

Over 1000, lower income Panamanians,not eligible for CSS who spent time and money travelling from different parts of the country to get to Santo Tomas Hospital at 5 a.m.  to get a place in line for treatment or doctor’s appointments got an early morning surprise when they discovered they would not be taken care of.

.