El Salvador opens center for chronic disease care
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El Salvador’s Ministry of Health opened the Specialized Center for Non-Communicable Diseases (CENT) in Mejicanos, San Salvador, to provide specialized care for patients with chronic conditions.
The new facility received $12.6 million in investment, with $10 million going towards the physical structure. CENT will focus on cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, and mental health conditions, but patients will not be able to directly schedule appointments. Patients needing specialized attention will first visit public health facilities.
If doctors determine they meet the criteria, they will send a referral through the Integrated Health System (SIS). Health officials will then validate the referral and schedule appointments based on medical priority before patients return to their original health unit for follow-up care. The center will house departments for internal medicine, gynecology, mastology, mental health, and nutrition, alongside a laboratory, pharmacy, and social work services. It will also offer cardiology, endocrinology, nephrology, and colposcopy.
CENT will employ approximately 100 professionals, including specialists, nurses, nutritionists, psychologists, and social workers, and features equipment like mammography machines and echocardiogram devices. Along with CENT, El Salvador also invested $8 million to renovate the National Radiotherapy Center and $4.65 million for its first public PET-CT unit.
