On April 9, Diputada Gloria Reyes, an active member of PGA’s National Group in Dominican Republic, introduced a resolution to be considered by her peers in their Honorable Chamber of Deputies in support of the proposal by President Carlos Alvarado of Costa Rica, submitted to the World Health Organization (WHO), to facilitate access to technologies to combat COVID-19.
In her letter to the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Diputada Reyes calls on the Minister of Health to formally endorse Costa Rica’s proposal at the WHO, requests the Executive to present a report to the Bicameral Committee of the National Congress, established under Resolution 62-20, on the adopted measures to guarantee low cost or free access to science and the technologies that could facilitate detection, prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19; and requests the sharing of relevant information with appropriate institutions for its execution.
Diputada Reyes has also directly approached Dr. Rafael Sánchez Cárdenas, Minister of Health, and H.E. Miguel Vargas Maldonado, Minister of Foreign Affairs, requesting their formal endorsement to the Costa Rican proposal, which suggests creating a repository of information on diagnostic tests, devices, medication or vaccines, with free access or licensing on reasonable and affordable terms, in all member countries of the Organization.
In her letter to Minister Dr. Sánchez Cárdenas, Diputada Reyes states: “our country must make all national and international efforts to guarantee the right to health of the Dominican population. The right to health implies that medications, vaccines and other technologies that can be developed to combat COVID-19 should be accessible to the global population, including the Dominican Republic. This requires pragmatic and proactive measures as the mechanism proposed by Costa Rica.”
The Costa Rican government proposal also puts forward that the WHO “develop a concise memorandum of understanding with the intention of inviting non-profit organizations, industry and other relevant actors in the WHO member states to sign the memorandum and enable these mechanisms for the exchange and use of information.”
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Executive Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), has expressed his support to Costa Rica’s global initiative and informed the WHO is working with the government to finalize details.
Parliamentarians for Global Action applauds Diputada Reyes’ initiative and exhorts parliamentarians around the world to call on their Executives to support and endorse Costa Rica’s global proposal.