The man appointed to direct health insurance company Saludcoop, after it was seized by the Health Superintendent’s Office, has said they need $100 million to make it “financially viable,” reported Caracol Radio Friday.
Hector Pabon was appointed by Health Superintendent Conrado Gomez to run Saludcoop during its two month long intervention by the government entity. He stressed that his job is not to investigate but rather to improve the service and guarantee its viability.
Accounts indicate that the
Capitation Payment Unit (UPC), responsible for the financial management of public health care, will need $99.72 million (COP180 billion) and $1.9 million (COP35 billion) monthly in direct debt recoveries.
The health official, on his first day in charge, found normality in Saludcoop’s operations, stating that there is good attention being paid to the issues of mobility and high cost but also that the emergency network and in-patient care needs to be improved.
He said that Bogota needs at least 200 more hospital beds and needs to improve aspects such as its service-providing network.
In some sectors of the company, Pabon found employees in support of the directors of the insurance company.
Conrado Gomez tried to reassure Saludcoop customers saying, “All of the problems that were showed in this EPS [insurance company] are going to have a solution. The people have to be calm, they cannot worry, if someone is rejected, the people can call us.”
“The situation of Saludcoop is not of bancruptcy, because if one looks at the financial statements, it has a patrimony much superior than its debts. There is a problem of flow, it hasn’t paid its service providers, but it is not a problem of insolvency,” said the health official.
Saludcoop was repossessed by the Health Superintendent’s Office on Thursday May 12 for irregularities in financial flows and debt payment.