BOGOTÁ (AP) – Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Monday called on citizens to support a bill with which he intends to thoroughly reform the health system to seek to guarantee access throughout the territory and reduce the intermediation of services , in an effort to garner popular support for the proposal which sparked national debate.
The bill, the text of which has not been disclosed, will be presented in a symbolic act in the Plaza de Armas, in front of the presidential palace, the place where the leaders of other countries are usually received with honors. Then it will be tabled in Congress, where Petro has a majority but there are critical areas of reform, so he can begin his discussion.
The government intends to change the current health system that operates in Colombia with the model of a 1993 law, in which health promotion entities (EPS), which are usually private, are responsible for the administration of resources and hire the health service Provider Institutions (IPS), that is to say the health centers frequented by the population.
However, the government considers that the model is not equitable and requires prioritizing preventive and primary care so that it reaches all corners of the country.
The Minister of Health, Carolina Corcho, assured the official media on Monday that the current health system has a good offer of services in the big cities, but that it does not work in the same way in “more than half of the country”, in reference to rural areas and working-class neighborhoods.
The reform raised expectations in the health sector, particularly in the EPS which, according to the government, would no longer have the same role in the system. After a recent meeting with the sector, Interior Minister Alfonso Prada assured that the EPS would not be eliminated, although he asked them to “adapt” to the new system.