For the second time, the health index in Colombia was presented, which was 64 out of 100. This year, the focus was on traffic accidents and mental health problems.
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In the health index, Colombia passes
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On Thursday, the health index was announced, an initiative of the Vamos Vamos en Salud observatory to evaluate the system at the national level. This year, the total figure rose by 62 points to 64. "We spent scraping the year, but there is no room for complacency," Minister Alejandro Gaviria said in a video message posted during the event. Global changes are notorious, although they represent a two-point improvement. "This is expected; there are no dramatic changes, but when you zoom in on each axis - health, institutionality, perception, and financing - there are important issues, "said Augusto Galán Sarmiento, director of the observatory.
For example, the health situation axis, which describes how Colombians feel about this issue, declined compared to the previous year in only one point, from 79 to 78. But the reason for the decline is very relevant. As Galán explains, this point has to do with the estimated mortality rate for traffic accidents per 100,000 inhabitants, which, although maintaining the same gross
result, presented an adjustment when compared to international registrations. This caused the indicator to drop 25 points. The important thing is that in Colombia traffic accidents are a public health problem and that besides worrying "indicates that health is much more than EPS, white coats, and stethoscopes," says the doctor. "We live pending EPS, but health is more integral than that," he adds.
result, presented an adjustment when compared to international registrations. This caused the indicator to drop 25 points. The important thing is that in Colombia traffic accidents are a public health problem and that besides worrying "indicates that health is much more than EPS, white coats, and stethoscopes," says the doctor. "We live pending EPS, but health is more integral than that," he adds.
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The mental health situation was also disturbing, although the homicide rate remained the same, it is still very high for international standards. Another axis, that of citizen perception, which measures the users' experience in the health system, fell from 69 to 63, mainly due to widespread complaints about the lack of timely access to services. This problem is corroborated in the axis of institutional effectiveness, which measures the coverage, availability, and timeliness of care, in which it was observed that this does not fit even the maximum time required by law.
The most positive aspect was financing, which seeks to evaluate the system of macro and microeconomic perspectives. It went from 37 to 55 points because this year, in addition to the finances of the EPS, the financial balance sheets of clinics and hospitals and the pharmaceutical industry were included. "That gives positive results by adding the solvency and profitability of these entities, but it does not mean that we are good in that matter," says Galán. Although these financials are worse off for the EPS than for the IPS and the pharmaceutical industry, it was possible to establish that the problem of the finances of the system is liquidity.
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In the regions, the situation is different, because when looking at the department it is observed that many PHIs have a crisis. And is that for the first time the index was extended to the departments, which allowed to see in detail the system. But in these areas, there is a lack of information, which implies making the index with only 61 indicators and not 75. For this reason, the national and departmental indices cannot be compared, nor the data on the financial expenditure of the contributory scheme by the department. That is why Galán calls for territorial entities to have better sources of information.
Taking into account that health goes hand in hand with development, each region was categorized. The perception in health was harder in the departments of the greater socioeconomic level, and for this reason, they are the most punished in that aspect. The researchers were worried about Valle del Cauca because within its category was in the last place with a score of 59 out of 100.
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The objective of this tool is to collect the country's health information so that solutions can come to many of the ills that afflict the system. For more information on the index see www.asivamosensalud.org.