Panama: ICITAP Assists National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Science Through Web-Based Tools During COVID-19 Pandemic

On April 2, ICITAP reported on efforts to promote the use of web-based working tools to the Panamanian National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Science (IMELCF) as part of their accreditation process, and those earlier efforts have facilitated the adaptation of online efforts to continue laboratory work during the quarantine in Panama amid the coronavirus crisis. Due to the sudden increase in the number of the experts moving to telework mode during the C COVID-19 pandemic, ICITAP has been providing technical support and distance training on the use of the recommended web-based tools for document sharing, accessibility privileges, and helping to solve common platform access and frequent minor technical issues. In the future, this will be a permanent capacity of the lab and due to the regional nature of ICITAP’s work in Central America, local experts can help mentor other labs in the same best practices. Maintaining the justice system in Panama in the current situation is crucial as Panama has seen instances of looting and has had to arrest 424 individuals over the last 24 hours.