State health institutions have undergone different stages of evolution throughout the history of Panamanian public health.  

The pre-Republican era (before 1903) was characterized by greater environmental dominance over humans, who thus paid an enormous price in diseases that are now preventable, such as yellow fever, malaria, smallpox, and typhoid. There was a lack of scientific techniques for organizing attacks on the most important ecological factors.

In the early years of the Republic's independence (1903-1914), limited health care efforts were directed by a Public Hygiene and Charity Section and a Donations Section of the Public Works Department of the Ministry of Development. This period was characterized by human domination of the environment with the construction of the Panama Canal. However, there is still a marked lack of organized Preventive Medicine and Public Health in the rest of the country, with the exception of limited patient care in the few existing hospitals and limited attention to public hygiene.

• Emergency Medicine (24/7)

• Internal Medicine

• General Surgery

• Pediatrics

• First Aid

• Specialized Laboratories

• Ophthalmology (notably, the hospital has hosted international surgical missions)

• Multidisciplinary specialty care

Regional Hospital Dr. Luis "Chicho" Fábrega is recognized for delivering high-complexity care and serving as a referral center for the region. The hospital has undergone significant infrastructure improvements, including a major roof restoration project to ensure safety and continuity of care. Its design emphasizes patient flow, safety, and environmental sustainability, making it a model for green hospital construction in Panama

Vision
“CHANGE IN HEALTH, A COMMITMENT FOR ALL”

Mission
To guarantee the entire population, with a gender perspective, access to comprehensive care, through public health services, humanized at all levels of intervention, based on the primary care strategy, and the development of the functions of leadership, management and transformation, privileging equity, efficiency and quality with warmth during care, ensuring transparency in the use of resources and the development of health actions with citizen participation, in the construction of the necessary conditions for the social production of health.