Colombia’s health system faces emergency crisis, experts demand shock plan

A coalition of Colombian health experts, academics and oversight bodies has warned that the country's public‑health system is on the brink of collapse. They cite soaring debts among EPS insurers, hospitals and clinics, delays in treatments and medicines, barriers to specialist care and the financial fragility of several state‑intervened EPS. Trust in the system is eroding, and the public‑health financing model is under severe strain.

The group, publishing a document titled “Consensos,” calls for an urgent “shock plan” before broader structural reforms. Recommended measures include a rapid cleanup of hospital debts, technical adjustments to the capitation payment unit (UPC), guarantees for continuity of high‑cost and chronic‑illness treatments, reduction of bureaucratic steps that delay drugs and procedures, and a strengthening of primary‑care services. They also stress the need for transparent oversight of EPS finances, noting that recent government interventions have not improved operational indicators.

The crisis has been described in an academic article in the journal *Medicina* as a humanitarian emergency, with contributions from leading Colombian universities and international institutions such as Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The authors criticize recent government actions, including the appointment of a former mayor as health superintendent, arguing that political moves have deepened the system’s instability.