The building shown above may not look like much, but is represents one of the crowning achievements of the FMLN government: accessible and free public health care delivered door to door in over 400 communities across El Salvador. The ECOS - Equipos Comunitarios de Salud, or community health-care units, have been able to provide basic health care, including health assessments for babies, children, toddlers, pregnant women and the elderly, who previously might not have been able to access nor afford such services in the past. In fact it provides something that even we Canadians, with our enviable health-care system, no longer enjoy: home visits from doctors.
Yesterday, we travelled to the county of El Paisnal, about an hour and a half drive up into the mountains outside San Salvador. Once a combat zone during El Salvador's brutal civil war in the 1980's, Paisnal - and nearby San Francisco de los Cerros - have been rebuilt as rural communities. There we met health promoter, Francisco Cordosa, who is part of a health team that services an area encompassing about 22 000 square kilometres, comprised of 500 households spread across 13 small cantons and 4 towns. The 2300 inhabitants therein now get regular and free medical intervention that includes access to doctors and nurses, medicines, vaccinations for children, and documentation of the health status of each member of the community.
Compare this to the fact that in 2005, 48% of Salvadorans did not have access to health care. For people in remote regions, a visit to the doctor meant an arduous and expensive journey to a city or town center where medical services would be available. The 52% of citizens that did receive services often faced shortages of medicines and/or access to medical professionals.
These dramatic changes to health care services were brought about by FLMN-led legislative changes to the laws under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health. Under these new laws, it is now illegal for ECOS doctors to charge for their services. Four hundred mobile medical units, each consisting of one doctor, one nurse and four to six medical educators, have been mobilized to serve communities right across the country.
Another aspect of what is called the Medicine Law addressed the long-standing stranglehold that the pharmaceutical companies had on health services in the country. This grip on Salvadoran medical law prohibited the purchase of generic alternatives to patented medicines that were easily available in neighbouring countries at a fraction of the price. The Ministry of Health is now permitted to shop around for better deals on desperately-needed medicines.
The health care program itself concentrates on health assessment and preventative measures that address the most common health ailments. Doctor Quijete, who sees 25 to 35 patients a day during her consultation sessions, explained that the most common medical complaints are preventable and easily treatable. Ailments like respiratory infections, diarrhea, intestinal parasites, etcetera are often caused by contaminated water and exacerbated by poor nutrition. She feels confident that her clinic is equipped with all the ‘basic necessities mandated by the Ministry of Health’.
Altogether, the success of the new health care program is a testament to the fact that without the inordinate influence of big business in health care policy, free accessible health care is not only possible, but very much doable. Those who argue against this, but instead proclaim that austerity and debt-servicing ought to take precedence over the well-being of a population, have not done their homework. Alternative models to a privatized system exist in countries around the world, and their populations are better off for it. If a small, impoverished country such as El Salvador can do it, it is most certainly within the grasp of the United States. Canada, too, might have a thing or two to learn from this model.
No comments:
Post a Comment