Panama Earthquake: Minsa's Protocol for Donating Medicines

What happened: the October 9 quake and the national emergency

On October 9, 2026, at 12:56 p.m., an earthquake struck Panama with its epicenter 39 km northwest of Tonosí, in Los Santos province. PAHO/WHO, citing the University of Panama's Geosciences Institute, records it at magnitude 7.5 and 4 km deep; other sources, including PAHO's own Tonosí note (which cites the USGS) and international media, say 7.7³⁶⁸⁹. Such differences are common between seismic networks, so we attribute each figure to its source.

The government declared a national state of emergency on October 10 through Cabinet Resolution No. 108³⁴. According to PAHO there were 27 injured people, and the October 18 situation report adds that the government confirmed the death of one person who had been injured in the event³⁵. Minsa activated its Health Emergency Operations Center (CODES) through Resolution No. 832 of October 12⁴.

Minsa's protocol for donating medicines

On October 21, Germán Pérez, Minsa's national director of Medicines and Supplies, explained the donation procedure. Individuals, companies or organizations that want to donate medicines directly to the ministry must submit a request to the Despacho Superior. Products then undergo a technical evaluation and, before distribution, these points are reviewed¹:

• condition of the product and adequate conditions;
• expiration date;
• compliance with sanitary standards;
• whether it answers the needs of the affected patients;
• origin and traceability, to follow its final destination.

Pérez also clarified that not every medicine is needed at this stage. The priorities he cited are drugs for chronic diseases, mental-health treatments, pain-management medicines and products for flu-like symptoms and respiratory conditions. The ministry asks that each donation be coordinated in advance to keep a record of origin and destination¹.

Why sanitary registration and traceability are not suspended in an emergency

The protocol's logic matches Law 419 of 2024, which requires registration with the National Directorate of Pharmacy and Drugs (DNFD) and defines traceability as a «system that tracks a medicine to identify it at all times»¹⁷. The same law allows import without registration «in the case of donations, in accordance with the requirements and controls established in current health regulations»: donation is a permitted route, but with controls, not a shortcut¹⁷. It is the same framework we analyzed in importing medicines without registration in Panama and Article 358 and in Minsa's campaign against falsified medicines.

International evidence backs that caution. A review of 95 articles on 96 drug-donation incidents between 2000 and 2008 found that 50 occurred in response to disasters and that these donations complied less with WHO guidelines on recipient need, quality assurance, shelf life, packaging and information management; recipient countries bore the cost of destroying what they received, and the authors conclude that donations can do more harm than good¹³. The WHO Guidelines for Medicine Donations (third edition, 2011) exist precisely for donors and recipients in emergency aid¹⁰, and a 2015 review notes that while donations can provide essential medicines, inappropriate donations also occur «with burdensome consequences»¹⁴.

PAHO turns this into practical donor rules: do not send supplies the affected country has not requested, do not clog relief channels with donations that are not urgently needed, pack medicines separately, mark those that need refrigeration, and ask physicians and pharmacists for technical help to classify them¹¹¹². That is, in essence, what Minsa requires today.

Cold chain and heat-sensitive medicines after the quake

The second sensitive point is the cold chain. PAHO's situation report no. 2, dated October 14, reports power interruptions and cold-chain disruption, and that Minsa was assessing the state of biologicals and the measures needed to maintain vaccination⁴. In Herrera, access to the regional warehouse of medicines and medical-surgical supplies was restricted while damage was assessed, limiting supply, and Cecilio Castillero Hospital was receiving supplies and medicines from local units⁴. The CSS, for its part, temporarily halted hemodialysis for lack of drinking water, according to Telesur (preliminary figures)⁹; PAHO later reported the transfer of 405 hemodialysis patients⁴.

In Tonosí, the Rural Hospital went out of service because of «significant structural damage» that affected its pharmacy and inpatient area; PAHO describes a UN interagency mission, while Minsa and PAHO/WHO teams reviewed the medicine supply during their visits⁶. By October 18, a Minsa team in Veraguas had delivered 1,350 medicines and administered more than 1,512 vaccine doses⁵; PAHO had delivered 20 emergency backpacks, prepositioned in its regional strategic reserve in Panama, to the Los Santos Health Region⁵⁷.

What does the science say about temperature excursions? There is no single rule. A 2022 review of FDA-approved products since 2000 identified 246 of 705 that require storage below room temperature and found acceptable excursion periods for 214 of them¹⁵. A 2025 review gathered stability data for 150 refrigerated medicines: 22.8% remained stable for at least 24 hours, with notable variability between brands of the same active substance, for example recombinant growth hormones¹⁶. The practical consequence is that each product requires its own data sheet and its own temperature log: a donation with no cold history cannot be verified.

What this means for physicians and clinics in Panama

• Ask before donating. Coordinate with Minsa and offer only what the published priorities request; drugs outside that list may not be needed at this stage¹.
• Document. Lot, expiry, sanitary registration, origin and, where applicable, a temperature log; without them the product does not meet the traceability criterion¹¹⁷.
• Separate and label. Medicines apart from other goods and heat-sensitive items marked «needs refrigeration», as PAHO recommends¹¹.
• Do not improvise with unregistered products. The emergency does not make legal or safe a product that would fail Minsa's evaluation; see our analysis of sanitary registration and the double standard.
• Report what looks wrong. The DNFD launched VigiMedic and VigiVac so professionals and patients can report suspected adverse reactions; see our guide to pharmacovigilance with VigiMedic¹⁸.