Efectos en las importadoras del DMQ por la implementación de la tarifa arancelaria 0% a insumos médicos para atender la emergencia sanitaria en el Ecuador, suscrita en la Resolución No. 004-2020, en los periodos 2020 -2021

Abstract

COVID-19 was originated in Wuhan China, having the first case on December 31, 2019, and then quickly spread around the world. When it reached Ecuador, the first confirmed case was on February 29, 2020 in Guayaquil city, spreading the infection throughout the country. During the pandemic, certain social and organization problems around the Ecuadorian's health system became evident. One of the main issues was the lack of medical staff availability to face the crisis of the hospitals in the country; On the other hand very, limited medical supplies were trying to be delivered in to the country trying to cover the unthinkable high demand. With this problem, the National Government implemented the Resolution No. 004-2020 to encourage the importation of medical equipment and cover the demand during the coronavirus crisis. Because is a public health problem, is important to identify if the adopted measurements were successful since the economic resources were public and the facilities are public and there for it must be in the public domain. Resolution No. 004-2020 brought with it a direct decrease in the price of medical supplies most likely used in the prevention and treatment against COVID-19; The main goal is to reach the demand of medical supplies during the health emergency moment in Ecuador, for which a new study was carried out through a survey on the importation department concentrated in the DMQ. The results showed the volume of importations of medical supplies increased in the Metropolitan District of Quito, due to a reduction of importations fees on the main medical supplies listed from Resolution No. 004-2020, Also it was possible to cover one of the main problems. The extraordinary high demand of medical supplies during the pandemic. Finally, a slight increase of the margin profit in the importation sector was determined because, on one hand, the resolution reduced the importation cost and at the other hand they were able to maintained and marginally raised the sale price.