After a meeting with the Ministry of Social Protection Wednesday President Juan Manuel Santos announced a measure to ensure that public funds go directly to the hospitals by “cutting out the middle man.”
“From April 1 the money will go directly to hospitals rather than through the municipal government, not through intermediaries, but directly,” Santos said in a presidential press release.
The president explained that the delay in the delivery of resources to health centers and hospitals was one of the major obstacles facing the health system in Colombia.
Delivering funds directly to the hospitals “will have a great result, a great impact on the efficiency of the system,” said Santos.
After Wednesday’s meeting the president declared that there were no irregularities or corruption at the Ministry of Social Protection, following the Inspector General’s Office finding thousands of units of expired medications.
The ministry announced Friday that there are 3.8 million Colombians with “rare” diseases that the government cannot treat due to lack of funding.