https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/no-garbage-pickup-in-san-miguelito-panama-for-15-days

The Municipal Council of San Miguelito authorized Mayor Irma Hernández on Tuesday, July 23, to negotiate with the company Recicladora Vida y Salid, SA (Revisalud) the modification of the contract for the collection, treatment and final disposal of solid waste in this district of the province of Panama.  This includes removing the exclusivity that the company has, due to the inefficiency in the service.  The contract was signed on January 18, 2001 and is valid for a period of 25 years, of which 23 have already passed. The first action is to reduce exclusivity so that another company can gradually enter, and the second is to also reduce the capacity they have in the collection area, so that the new company (to be chosen) can work independently in the district.  The problem is that the community of San Cristóbal in San Miguelito, reports that the garbage truck has not been around for more than 15 days.  The streets of San Miguelito are constantly littered with garbage.  It is time to give an account of the company that has not provided a good service for years.  The amount of garbage on the streets has helped the proliferation of mosquitoes that transmit diseases such as dengue, zika and chikungunya fever.  The Mayor of San Miguelito Irma Hernández is pictured below:

The mayor Irma Hernández stated that “since there is a state of health emergency in the district, direct contracting will be possible and we will not delay the bidding process because the Municipality of San Miguelito needs an immediate response.”  The mayor requested from the Cabinet Council a declaration of a health emergency throughout the district which was approved. The latest epidemiological report recorded 299 positive cases, with the highest incidence in the districts of José Domingo de Espinar, Mateo Iturralde and Belisario Porras.  The authorities of the regional Ministry of Health (Minsa) carried out a cleaning and fumigation operation with the Municipal Council of José Domingo Espinar and the Mayor’s Office of San Miguelito as measures to counteract the health crisis.  Currently, the Regional Health Directorate of San Miguelito, declared a state of health alert due to the unhealthy situation in the district’s public spaces due to the infrequent collection of garbage, which puts the health of the population at risk.