12:46 PM
Although this Wednesday it was planned that in the First Committee of the Senate will be carried out political control debate due to failures in the implementation of the new health model for teachers of the country, the discussion was left undecided and was cancelled. The reason? The absence of a first-rate protagonist that today is in the spotlight of public opinion: the Minister of Health, Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo.
The official – who is in the eye of the hurricane following the revelation of controversial audios, among them one in which he says that “the “Petro health system does not exist”–, he was absent from the debate and, in his place, delegated to the Vice Minister of Health, Jaime Urrego Rodríguez.
Although other officials did attend the meeting, such as the Minister of Education, Aurora Vergaraand the president of the Fiduprevisora, Jhon Mauricio Marín, Jaramillo’s absence generated discontent among the opposition sectors, which continue to demand the flaws in the new health model for the teaching profession.
“The Minister of Health An excuse has not been filed and it has not been made present. It is essential in this debate, among others, to see if he is going to speak with such beautiful language in the First Commission”, claimed Senator David Luna, from Cambio Radical, who also complained about the lack of quorum in the session. Although there was sufficient presence of congressmen to deliberate, He wanted there to be a decision-making quorum.
“I am not going to accept the formula of starting the debate with a deliberative quorum. I want to send the minutes of this debate to different instances. I want from the moment there is a decision-making quorum and approval of the agenda,” added Luna, who had cited the debate within the framework of the Statute of the Opposition.
Although the president of the First Commission, the conservative Germán Blanco, gave a recess waiting not only for more senators to arrive (as indeed happened), but the Minister of Health himselfafter 15 minutes the official finally did not attend. Therefore, the debate was suspended. Visibly upset, Senator Luna complained about the absence and warned that, with the new health model, several officials they would be prevaricating (acting unfairly, arbitrarily and contrary to the law).
“This is not a debate to muddle through or run away. Nor is it a debate to cross over the statutory education law. It is a debate in which I will make very serious complaints, in which I can point with forcefulness that many are prevaricating, where I can point out that this throwing of balls is irresponsible. I am going to state forcefully that one thing is the approval of a change of model and another is the approval of the hiring manual“Luna specified.
Although he appreciated the arrival of the vice minister of Health, the opposition senator insisted that The one mentioned was Jaramillo to the extent that he is the one called to assume political responsibility. “The theme is status, institutionality, “It is a debate of the greatest consideration,” he said. He also anticipated that the person responsible for the failures would be Minister Vergara: “The Government is only one. Very mediocre who has come out of declare that the responsibility belongs to one or the other. Here everyone has the responsibility, but you lead, Madam Minister.”
It is estimated that the debate could will finally take place next Monday, May 27. The vice president of the Fomag, Alfredo González Rangel, who did not present any excuse.
The transition in the teachers’ health system ordered by the Gustavo Petro’s government on May 1 has resulted complex, with trauma, last minute decisions and complaints due to delays in care. At stake is the health of 910,000 affiliates to the special health regime for the country’s teachers.
In parallel, they met controversial audios of a meeting held by the Minister of Health, Guillermo Jaramillo, and the president of Fiduprevisora, Mauricio Jaramillo, in which they addressed the problems that have arisen. The recordings correspond to a meeting they held last Tuesday, May 7in which they talked about the provision of the service to teachers and their beneficiaries, as well as the outings to the complaints that have been known in different parts of the country.
In the audios, Jaramillo referred to the fact that the situation that was being experienced was “of crisis, necessity, urgency” and that the solution had to be fixed in the audit of the services. “Then we do what the president says, now there is no need to tie things up,” the minister said.
Regarding his idea of a settlement, he told those attending the meeting that, in the case of medications, “The drug pays for it and as soon as the bill passes, (he is told) ‘no, sir, not at that price; the price is this’ and that’s how it’s settled later when the audit comes.”
Before the changes implemented by Petro, the teachers’ health system operated through an affiliation that was not done through health promoting entities (EPS), but by Fiduprevisora that assumed the responsibility of membership and of transferring the money – which it received from the National Fund for Social Benefits of the Teaching Profession (Fomag)—to health operators.
In that sense, the Fiduprevisora hired some regional operators, which, in turn, were in charge of hiring the (IPS) who would then serve the users and their beneficiaries. The role that these operators played was similar to the one they have in the general system, currently the EPS. They were intermediaries between Fiduprevisora and the IPS and they were in charge of setting up the network of providers, paying them through contracts and carrying out audits.
The change that the National Government made consisted of They eliminated the intermediation of operators and delegated their functions to Fiduprevisora. As it was, the operators left the equation and that fiduciary was in charge of enter into contracts with the IPS and audit them, which is to check that what clinics and hospitals charge for patient care corresponds to what they really did.
However, this conversion implies that the Fiduprevisora—an entity that does not have experience in creating health service networks— Learn new features, including conclusion of contracts and manage financial risk (make the money reach). Tasks for which, in addition to expertise, you need qualified personnel who do it efficiently and effectively.
