With an IDB loan of $50 million the Government will make payments for the purchase of goods and works to be contracted under the Program of Improvement and Strengthening of the health services.
A statement from the Ministry of Health of Panama reads:
The Government of the Republic of Panama has received a loan from the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) in an amount equal to Fifty Million U.S.
The medical devices company will close a facility in Florida, U.S., and move it to Costa Rica.
This plant, located in the city of Doral, produces parts for stents used in treatment of heart disease, and employs 1.400 people. Boston Scientific expects to definitively close the facility in 2013.
From Miamiherald.com: "The company is transferring the plant's work to a vacant facility in Costa Rica, where labor costs are much lower, said Frank Nero, president of the Miami-Dade Beacon Council".
Export of implants for medical purposed, especially silicone breast implants and those used for weight-loss, have shot up in the last year.
According to records from the Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer), the country exported US$134 million in these types of articles between January and June, or 452% more than sales for the same period in 2007 ($24 million).
Costa Rica earned US$80 million from exports of surgical implants in the first four months of 2008, a 40 percent year-on-year increase, the Foreign Trade Ministry reported.
The United States, Ireland an Australia are the principal markets for what has become a leading export of Costa Rica's medical industry.
Costa Rica has displaced Germany as the second leading exporter of medical implants to the United States, according to US trade figures.
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