How many doctors there are and where they are
| Indicator | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Practising doctors | 7,515 in 2024; 600 inhabitants per doctor | INEC |
| Doctors in the public system | 10,068 according to MINSA, 2.3 per 1,000 | MINSA, La Prensa |
| Doctors per 1,000 inhabitants | Panama 1.63; Latin America 2.57; OECD 3.43 | World Bank, 2022 |
| Beds per 1,000 inhabitants | 1.8 in 2024; the WHO recommends 3 | INEC |
| Health spending | 8.3% of GDP in 2023; Latin America 7.9%; OECD 12.8% | World Bank, WHO |
The two official figures do not match: INEC counts 7,515 practising doctors and MINSA 10,068 in the public system. With either, Panama sits at the World Health Organization minimum and below its neighbours. MINSA itself summed it up in December 2025: there is no shortage of doctors, the problem is where they work.
| Province or comarca | Doctors per 10,000 inhabitants, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Herrera | 26.5 |
| Panama | 23.1 |
| Chiriquí | 20.8 |
| Colón | 11.4 |
| Bocas del Toro | 7.2 |
| Panamá Oeste | 7.2 |
| Darién | 7.1 |
| Guna Yala | 6.5 |
| Ngäbe-Buglé | 1.5 |
| Emberá | 1.5 |
The Ngäbe-Buglé comarca, with 236,000 inhabitants, had 78 doctors and nurses in 2022. Panama province, with 1.7 million, had 7,403. In November 2025 MINSA counted a single specialist in Guna Yala and seven in Ngäbe-Buglé. The Social Security Fund acknowledges vacant posts in Bocas del Toro, Puerto Armuelles, Colón, Aguadulce and Chepo, and concentrates its 3,000 specialists in Panama City and Chiriquí.
The bottleneck is specialisation
Panama graduates between 400 and 800 general doctors a year, depending on the source, and in 2026 awarded 396 internship places after leaving 203 on a waiting list in 2025. But it trains only 100 to 120 specialists and subspecialists a year, and the president of the residents’ federation says that figure should be tripled. The result shows in the Fund’s surgical backlog: 1,800 orthopaedic surgeries pending in 2024, 876 cardiovascular, 755 neurosurgical, about 9,000 cataracts, and waits of one to four months for a specialist appointment.
The State’s answer has been to import. Law 69 of 2013 allows foreign specialists to be hired when there are no Panamanians, and in March 2026 MINSA and the Fund advertised 71 posts in the interior, in anaesthesiology, cardiology, ophthalmology, paediatrics, gastroenterology and nephrology. It was the fourth call since October 2025. In the previous three, one or two foreign doctors took part and none stayed. Pay, degree validation at the University of Panama and temporary contracts explain why.
What is sold abroad
Medical tourism exists and works in one segment: Clínica Hospital San Fernando received its sixth Joint Commission International accreditation in August 2026, and Hospital Punta Pacífica, affiliated with Johns Hopkins Medicine International, has held its own since 2011. The government valued the industry at 400 million dollars in 2020 and has not updated the figure. There is no official register of how many international patients arrive: the business press itself acknowledges there is no data and the activity is unregulated. The Fund’s Ciudad de la Salud, with 1,368 beds and 51 operating theatres, is the country’s largest hospital investment, and in November 2025 more than 2,800 people queued at its entrance for a 2026 appointment.
The underlying question
Panama City’s private hospitals can treat a patient from Miami to US standards at half the price. That is the offer, and it is real. What the country has not resolved is that the specialists who make that offer possible are the same ones missing in Bocas del Toro, and that the system trains 71 a year while 475 wait. Promoting medical tourism without expanding residencies is selling a product whose main input, the specialist, is running out in the interior. The question is whether Panama wants to be a health destination or only wants its capital to be one.
What nobody has answered yet
- How many foreign patients does Panama treat a year and how much do they spend? The only official figure is from 2020 and there is no register of international patients.
- Why does MINSA count 10,068 doctors and INEC 7,515? Neither institution has publicly explained the 2,500 professional gap.
- How many specialists trained in Panama leave for the private sector or abroad within five years? There is no public tracking of residency cohorts.
Frequently asked questions
How many doctors per inhabitant does Panama have?
1.7 per 1,000 inhabitants according to INEC in 2024, or 2.3 according to MINSA. The Latin American average is 2.6 and the OECD’s 3.4, according to the World Bank.
Where are doctors lacking in Panama?
In the comarcas and in Darién, Bocas del Toro and Panamá Oeste. Ngäbe-Buglé has 1.5 doctors per 10,000 inhabitants; Panama province, 23.
How many specialists does Panama train a year?
Between 100 and 120, according to the residents’ federation. In 2026 the Social Security Fund offered 71 residency places for 475 applicants.
Which hospitals in Panama have international accreditation?
Clínica Hospital San Fernando, with six Joint Commission International accreditations since 2011, and Hospital Punta Pacífica, accredited in 2011 and affiliated with Johns Hopkins Medicine International.
Related articles
Sources
- INEC, Health Services Statistics 2024.
- La Prensa, MINSA and the distribution of doctors.
- MINSA, Basic Country Indicators 2022-2023.
- World Bank, physicians per 1,000 people.
- World Bank, health expenditure as a share of GDP.
- La Prensa, MINSA doctors by region.
- TVN, specialist shortage hits the interior.
- TVN, the Fund’s director on the specialist deficit.
- Panamá América, the Fund’s surgical backlog.
- La Prensa, 71 residency places for 475 applicants.
- MINSA, 396 internship places in 2026.
- La Prensa, medical graduates and internships.
- TVN, March 2026 call for foreign specialists.
- Clínica Hospital San Fernando, sixth JCI accreditation.
- Newswise, JCI accreditation of Hospital Punta Pacífica.
- Panamá América, 400 million dollar medical tourism.
- La Estrella, medical tourism without official figures.
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