Panama: MSF forced to suspend medical care in Darien Gap

MSF warns it is urgent to resume medical activities as soon as possible to guarantee access to health, especially for those who are victims of attacks and sexual violence in the jungle.

Since Monday, March 4th, the Médecins Sans Frontières  has been forced to suspend all medical activity for the migrant population in the Darién by order of the Panamanian authorities, who allege that MSF does not currently have a collaboration agreement in place with the Ministry Of Health. The organization has tried in vain to obtain such a renewal since October 2023. 

MSF is extremely concerned about the consequences that the suspension has on the migrant population. On average, each month, medical teams provide physical and psychological health care to nearly 5,000 people, with a special emphasis on survivors of sexual violence. During the year 2023, 676 migrants received comprehensive medical care after suffering an act of this type on the migratory route; and in January 2024 alone, MSF recorded 120 more cases. In February, the organization again denounced the increase in brutal attacks and sexual violence in the jungle.

Because of the obvious health needs, which have increased exponentially in the last three years, MSF hopes to be able to resume medical care in Darien as soon as possible. The suspension also coincides with an expected increase in the number of migrants in Panama this week, after boat transports resumed in Colombia after a couple of days of imprison.  

At different points along the migration route between South America, Central America, Mexico and the United States, MSF provides free and confidential support to people on the move. In 2023, it provided 59,877 medical and nursing consultations (35% of which went to patients under 15 years of age and 53% to women and girls), 2,978 mental health consultations, and performed 24,762 cures at the exit of the jungle.