Since the elected president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, announced that Carolina Corcho will be the Minister of Health During his government, many began to wonder about what will happen to the Colombian health system. The doctor and political scientist has strongly criticized the handling of health in the country.
(This is how Gustavo Petro’s cabinet is left).
“Our health system discriminates based on race and income. Our main problems are in the scattered rural areas, where more than 20 million Colombians live. One of the indicators that things are not right is guardianships. They are innumerable and are proof that having a card does not guarantee that you will actually have access to the health service.“, he said in an interview for El País.
So that, Corcho proposes to present a reform to be debated in Congress, which would include eliminating the Health Promotion Entities (EPS), who currently act as mediators between patients, and clinics and hospitals.
(Subsidized regime proposes improvements in the EPS, but not eliminate them).
“EPSs are in deficit and many are bankrupt. Right now, according to official figures, at least 14 of these companies are in financial default. When an EPS goes into liquidation, patients have to be transferred to another and they reach the limit and begin to function poorly. In addition to the unpayable debts with clinics and hospitals. There is no State control over these resources and that requires a reform,” he said in said interview.
For her, this proposal “is not as catastrophic an issue as it has been raised”, and she is open to debate because what is sought is that “No citizen’s rights are taken away. What we want is to recover resources to respond to everyone.”
In this regard, Corcho, in dialogue with El País, stated that the proposed reform does not mean that the private sector leaves the Colombian health system. “Private clinics will continue to function. Public hospitals must be strengthened, because these are the only ones that reach Guainía and a citizen from there or from any other region must be treated with dignity, that is what the State has to guarantee.”
The psychiatrist dreams of a health system with transparent information for the flow of resources, “where the provision of services continues to be public and private.”
And about the role of mental health In her agenda as minister, she stated that: “Resolving mental health care involves improving the quality of life of Colombians. From the ministry, mental health will be taken to the territories.”
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