In a private meeting, the Secretary of Health of Bogotá, Gerson Bermont, spoke with the Superintendent of Health, Luis Carlos Leal, about the future of the national government’s intervention in the Central East Subnet and the possibility of additional interventions to other entities.
This meeting was held on May 15 in order to analyze the situation of the Supersalud intervention process in the Integrated Subnetwork of Health Services Centro Oriente ESE of Bogotá DC, and what is expected in terms of public health in the capital. Although the focus of the meeting was the status of the current intervention, the persistent rumors that led to more forceful action by the National Government with the district health system were also addressed.
Given this panorama of uncertainty where the possibility of intervening in other Subnetworks and even the EPS Capital Salud was known, Superintendent Leal clarified that there will be no more interventions. Furthermore, Secretary Bermont explained that “We are not talking about any other intervention by a subnetwork or Capital Salud, nor about intervening in the Ministry of Health.”
It is worth mentioning that all of Bogotá’s Health Subnetworks, including the North, Central East (already intervened), South and Southwest, are made up of the 22 hospitals in the city. And regarding the EPS Capital Salud it has more than 900,000 members in Bogotá.
Bogotá councilors challenge the health superintendent for interventions
After the intervention of Supersalud to the Integrated Subnetwork of Health Services Centro Oriente ESE of Bogotá DC, last Tuesday, May 7, the councilors of Bogotá, Julián Espinosa of the Alianza Verde party and Fernando López of the Nuevo Liberalismo, presented a challenge against the Superintendent of Health, Luis Carlos Leal, due to a possible conflict of interest related to the intervention of the Central East Subnetwork.
The councilors delivered a letter to the Ministry of Health, arguing that the Superintendent had made prejudgments about the entity during his time as a councilor, which disqualifies him from making a decision in this case.
For his part, Fernando López emphasized that the Superintendent is incapable of acting because “he voted on the District’s budget for the year 2024 before assuming office.” In addition, López stressed that the Capital District has made significant investments in the EPS Salud Capital and in the subnetworks, with the aim of improving its financial and operational situation.
In this way, the councilors requested both the National Government and the Ministry of Health and the corresponding entities to evaluate the superintendent’s impediment to carry out the intervention of the Central East Subnet.
Added to these accusations was that of the ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, this May 16, who warned that Supersalud would be requesting more requirements for receiving complaints from users.
“Supersalud cannot conceive health as a public service, but as a fundamental right. It is very serious that in the midst of the current situation in which some EPS have been intervened, they have established even more requirements for the reception of complaints, forcing users to previously make their requests to the health promoting entities, for this reason, From the Ombudsman’s Office we make a vehement call to the National Government to exercise regulation, surveillance, inspection and control of insurers and providers of health services.”
