What Happened
President José Raúl Mulino visited the construction site of the new Hospital del Niño in Panama City, a project positioned to become the country’s largest pediatric medical center. The hospital is being built on Avenida Balboa with Panamanian labor and is expected to open next year.
During the visit, Mulino spoke with workers at the site and thanked them for their role in advancing a project intended to strengthen care for children, especially those from vulnerable households. He also recognized the subcontractors and the leadership of Acciona Construcción, S.A., the company in charge of the work.
Accompanied by Health Minister Fernando Boyd Galindo, the president toured the first floor of the facility, which is already taking shape as the project advances toward its scheduled delivery in December 2027.
A Major Investment in Pediatric Care
The new Hospital del Niño carries a price tag of B/.705.8 million. The contract includes equipment and maintenance, along with work related to the Maternity Ward of Santo Tomás Hospital, adjacent areas, the restoration of the gardens, and the remodeling of the La Abeja building.
Boyd Galindo described the project as a major health development with no parallel in Latin America. The hospital tower will rise 23 stories and include 463 beds, 116 consultation rooms, and 17 operating rooms.
The pediatric tower will cover 89,518.5 square meters and concentrate a wide range of services, including outpatient care, emergency treatment, hospitalization, radiology, speech therapy, blood bank services, dentistry, neonatology, laboratories, surgery, intensive and critical care, physical medicine, rehabilitation, burn care, nephrology, adolescent care, pharmacy, a morgue, a research clinic, and a biomedicine department.
What It Means for Panama’s Health System
The project reflects a broader push to modernize health infrastructure across the country. Health authorities said dozens of new and renovated facilities are set to go out for bidding in May, with work expected to begin gradually during the remainder of 2026.
Among the planned projects are the demolition and rebuilding of the Curundú Health Center, new hospitals in Cañazas, Panama Norte, Tonosí, Metetí, and Nuevo Veranillo, as well as the reconstruction of the Hospital Nicolás A. Solano and the new regional headquarters of the Metropolitan Health Region. The list also includes the Policenter of Tocumen and several Minsa-Capsi centers in communities such as Cuipo, Nueva Italia, Río Sereno, Llano Cartí, and Puerto Caimito.
For Panama, the new Hospital del Niño represents both a symbolic and practical investment: a flagship pediatric facility in the capital, built to relieve pressure on an aging system and expand specialized care for children and newborns.