CCSS receives donation of 10,000 vials of fentanyl from El Salvador

QCOSTARICA – The Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) will receive a donation of 10,000 vials of fentanyl from the Ministry of Health of El Salvador.

The donation was made within the framework of coordination between health agencies in the region through the Executive Secretariat of the Central American Health Ministerial Commission (COMISCA), informed Dr. Román Macaya, executive president of the Caja.

Fentanyl is an anesthetic drug, used for the sedation of patients who require acute invasive ventilatory support with mechanical ventilation, among which are included covid-19 positive patients who require hospitalization and in turn present significant respiratory compromise for prolonged periods.

Therefore, the consumption of this medicine has been experiencing sustained growth, explained Dr. Esteban Vega de la O, manager of Caja’s Logistics.

Vega indicated that as an institutional strategy to maintain a safety stock while the product enters, a loan was arranged through the Coordination of the Medicines Unit of the Executive Secretary of COMISCA.

The CCSS was to reimburse the Ministry of Health of El Salvador in July 2021.

However, news came from the Government of El Salvador, that the 10,000 vials were being donated, which in the framework of cooperation between health institutions and SICA member states is a common procedure of support and cooperation, explained the Logistics manager.

Agradezco al gobierno y al pueblo de El Salvador la solidaridad mostrada con el medicamento Fentanilo. Esto realza el valor de los mecanismos de cooperación mutua de la región. Juntos, como pueblos hermanos, superaremos la pandemia y los desafíos del desarrollo 🇨🇷🇸🇻 @nayibbukele

— Carlos Alvarado Quesada (@CarlosAlvQ) April 21, 2021

For Dr. Vega de la O, this type of cooperation is a reflection of the strategic alliances that the institutions of the region offer each other with some frequency, and in which Costa Rica has supported the government of El Salvador at other times, and in specific to the Salvadoran Social Security Institute between the years 2018 to 2021.