Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos announced Wednesday the creation of a new Health Ministry, following the decision to separate the Ministry of Social Protection into two individual ministries, health and labor.
The president said of the new Health Ministry, “from here on in, health will have its own office and will be able to focus on the issues that concern the sector, basically public health and the quality of the sector.”
Following the decision to create the two new ministries, the president appointed Mauricio Santa Maria as the country’s new health minister. Santos also announced Rafael Pardo as the leader of the country’s new Labor Ministry Monday.
Santos said, “our obsession is to provide a a dignified health service, with quality, equity and opportunity.”
The new minister will be in charge of implementing the soon-to-be reformed Obligatory Health Plan (POS). The POS is a list of medications and medical treatments to be covered by all healthcare providers in Colombia.
According to a report by Caracol Radio, the Santa Maria is happy with his new role as health minister. “Here I am and here I will stay, I am happy here, I will serve the president for these four years,” said the new health minister.