1999News

Health Ministers meet in Boca Chica

The Ministers responsible for Public Health and Social Security of the Central American nations, DR and Cuba will meet today and tomorrow at Boca Chica’s Hamaca Hotel. The two-day meeting, sponsored by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), will promote an exchange of experience, information and ideas among ministers about the management of health care delivery in their nations. Attending will be the Ministers from Belize, Costa Rica, Cuba, DR, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. They will discuss common problems and different responses to the difficulties of providing basic health care to all their citizens, keeping costs down and quality of care improving, and the general economic "sustainability" of their public health care and social security health care regimes.Yesterday Public Health Minister Altagracia Guzm?n Marcelino announced that during the course of the meeting she will sign a health cooperation agreement with her counterpart from Cuba, Carlos Dotres. The agreement provides for Cuban assistance to the DR in primary health care delivery, hospital management, creation of medical rescue teams and in technology transfer.