"The same cover for foreigners" | In dialogue …

"It is very contradictory that, just as Bolivia is moving towards universality and free access throughout its public system, it intends to make a criticism like the one we heard about our health care system. ", said Página the Minister of Health of Chile12. This country, Gabriela Montaño, follows the second letter of the governor of Jujuy, Gerardo Morales, who denounced with a hint of xenophobia the "reprocessing" of Manuel Vilca, a musician wounded on December 8 in Bolivia and treated at the same time. General Hospital of Oruro.

The head of the province insists on his crusade against the Bolivian government. In the second letter mentioning the case, this time addressed directly to Montaño (the first one was addressed to President Evo Morales), again denounced the so-called "layer" suffered by Vilca and asked the authorities of the Neighboring country "All the expenses that were paid to him for health services in his country were reimbursed." "There are many Bolivian citizens who constantly emigrate to mine, and especially in my province, to look for hygienic solutions that obviously do not find theirs, because of the lack of accessibility to the service, the difference technology or human resources, "he said. Morales, alluding to the xenophobic bias that, according to the handbook of Jaime Durán Barba, tends to give good results the election years. In addition, he took the opportunity to disseminate, in some media, tickets with detailed information on hospitalization costs, without specifying that it was more the services provided in the private clinic of Cochabamba to which Vilca had transferred by decision. own

The Minister of Health of Bolivia, after clarifying that she would not seek to "enter the logic proposed by the Governor Morales", he told the newspaper that "equality" claimed by the president of Jujuy already exists. "It has always been this way, and it will continue to be so: all the public health coverage of a Bolivian or Bolivian was also given to the foreign brothers living on our territory, and all the benefits that will be obtained now. it will also be given to foreigners and, a fortiori, to Latin American brothers and neighboring countries, "explained Montaño, referring to the creation of the unified health system through a rule discussed in the Assembly. Multilateral Legislative Assembly, which will enter into force on 1 March. . "This law will guarantee to the whole population access to a series of benefits and products that are currently inaccessible." We are talking mainly about the population not covered by insurance: workers informal, traders, self-employed, peasants, "said the manager.

Montaño also confirmed what he had already explained: after his accident, Vilca spent five days at the General Hospital of Oruro, a public institution, where he was operated on the right foot and, on his own, he continued his recovery in a private clinic in Cochabamba. "We respect their decision, but as in any private clinic in the world, these are services that entail much higher costs than could exist in a public system," said the minister. He also reiterated that the injured musician did not have to pay for the medical care he had received at the Oruro Hospital because he was traveling on public transport covered by insurance.

"We are the country that pushes the most in the region and we are very proud of all that we have advanced, so it seems to me very contradictory that, even today, that Bolivia is moving forward, we want to make a criticism. similar to the one we heard about health system, "said Montaño, and concluded:" What a Bolivian or Bolivian receives is also received by an Argentine brother who is on Bolivian territory and is treated in the same way, so there is no real basis for what is said. "

Report: Sibila Gálvez Sánchez.