Due to the emergency situation caused by the SARS-COV2 infection, the Dr. Oswaldo Loor Foundation had to suspend its activities and close its Medical Center from mid-March to mid-June 2020. From June 18th, the Foundation resumed patient care with the corresponding restrictions, which included a reduction in the number of patients and, consequently, a considerable decrease in its financial income.
Despite this situation, the Foundation continued to give priority to the payment of salaries to all its collaborators who, to a large extent, are the only breadwinners in their families. This group of collaborators also included the promoters of the Programa Luz and Programa Baja Visión, whose salaries were financed by the government of the province of Manabí and the municipality of Portoviejo. Unfortunately, in the year 2020 it was not possible to obtain the generous support of these two institutions, so the Foundation had to assume responsibility for them. Unfortunately, the considerable decrease in income required urgent measures to allow the Foundation to continue providing its services and for this reason, in December 2020, the Luz and Baja Visión programs were suspended and therefore, its collaborators ceased to be part of the Foundation’s team.
In the year 2021 it was only possible to obtain funding from the municipality of Portoviejo, resulting in the fact that, since March of this year, the Light and Low Vision Programs only serve visually impaired people in this county.