Demonstrations against privatization of health care system

Demonstrators dressed in white filled the streets of San Salvador on Saturday to show their opposition to various proposals to privatize portions of El Salvador's healthcare system. According to La Prensa Grafica, the march, sponsored by various NGOs and the FMLN, stretched out across more than 12 blocks, with demonstrators carrying banners demanding reforms of healthcare delivery which do not include the privatization plans of the ARENA government. Such marches were a regular occurrence in 2002-03, drawing tens of thousands to the streets of San Salvador protesting the privatization policies of then-president Francisco Flores. The current protests reflect demonstrators views that those same policies are now being implemented quietly by the current ARENA government.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Again, ARENA is following the same old path "What would the American government do?" In the good old USA, 45 million have no access to health care, despite living in the richest country of the world. Health care, housing, education, clean water and healthy food sources are basic human rights, not commodites, like Coca-Cola.
Anonymous said…
Hi
I translated this issue in Italian, and posted it on dalMondo.info.
Ciao
Giovanni
Anonymous said…
I worked in the health care industry in the states for 16 years as a paramedic, and I know for a fact that no one is ever turned away at a hospital for lack of ability to pay a bill. It´s against the law. One of the reasons health care is so expensive in the states is that hospitals routinely write off hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, and then try to make it up by overcharging all their paying customers and the insurance companies. That´s a bad system, and it does makes it hard for the poor to just go to the doctor´s office when they are sick, but they get around that by going to the ER where they are NEVER turned away. Again, it´s against the law, so to say 45 million have no access to health care is great rhetoric, but not true.
Hodad said…
i went to the ER here in Redneck Riviera as per hassled by my Mom for a umbligal hernia, from hoofing 50 lb boxes of frozen shrimp,squid, fish etc, a few times did not bend my knees,
they charged me $300, the young doctor looked at it, after i waited 1 hour, did not touch me, or probe, nothing 5-10 minutes of time, i told them i will give them 50 bux, still in collections
fuck them hospitals,

been in El Salvador hospitals many times, $1.98 even for kidney stones once in 1996-97
here to fix hernia Marion Hospital $9K plus anethesists
in San Salvador with hernia specialist $800-1400
go figure
doctors here in USA are mainly drug dealers, bottom line
Anonymous said…
"but they get around that by going to the ER where they are NEVER turned away. Again, it´s against the law, so to say 45 million have no access to health care is great rhetoric, but not true."

Emergency healthcare <> healthcare

The problem here in the states is that people do not have access to healthcare UNTIL there is an emergency. Hosptials would save a lot of money treating cancer patients, for example, if their diseases were caught in the early stages through rountie annual physicals. So, what we mean is 45 million Americans have no access to regular, preventative healthcare--the kind that SAVES MONEY.
Anonymous said…
I agree, and that´s what should have been said instead of saying that 45 million have no access to health care. That statement is just not true. That´s what I was rebutting. Interestingly enough, a friend of mine from here in El Salvador, who has residency in the states, had to decide whether or not to have the baby here or there. I thought the deciding factor may the be the exorbitant cost of having the baby in the U.S. but her answer was no, it wouldn´t cost anything to have the baby in the states, and so she did. Again the reality of the system doesn´t ring true with the statements being made about it.
Hodad said…
an article yesterday in Knight-Ridder wrote how much it costs to have a baby in the USA, a lot $5-8K

she is obviously one of the many uninformed and propagandized of the xenophobic racist 'sheeple' in USA
great doctors in El Salvador, and if you are a 'gringo' you really get preferential treatment, I know from Taiwan to CR to ES to Nicaragua,
if people in USA and worldwide got off the high fructose corn syrup, junk food, TV's cell phones, their gd cars and walk, eat right, and do some tai Chi
the system would be less burdened, i will not even start now on the corporate pharmaceutical industries that feed off the obese ignorant populaces

to bring in another post
it helps tremendously TO have some kind of FAITH in God, or something
POSITIVE
as we are given all to stay health, and cure ourselves, excepting genetics, bad breeding, environmental circumstance and wrong place, wrong time, that is a question of the Universe, [also another day]
we all here have access to health care, we just choose to ignore it over desires and wants, and thaings that are not good for us
again folks,
Bubba say's "Common sense, is NOT Common" and all that subliminal TV will KILL ya
buy this, buy that
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said…
Being accepted in ER does not equal access to health care. The issue is much larger.
Anonymous said…
Sobre esta tema de la privatizacion de la salud en El Salvador no hay mas decir que si no estas palabras de Beatrice de Carrillo de la PDDH.

Beatriz Castillo
Gloria Silvia Orellana
Redacción Diario Co Latino

La Procuradora para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (PDDH), Beatrice de Carrillo, teme que la reformas que puedan aprobarse en la Asamblea Legislativa obstaculicen el acceso y derecho a la salud de la gente “más pobre”.
“Para mi desgracia, y creo que allí va haber un problemón, la reforma de salud va a pasar así como la está proponiendo la mayoría de la Asamblea Legislativa y con 43 votos pasará la reforma tal y como está previsto, con un sistema mixto. Según mi opinión, no tengo ninguna esperanza, que haya una decisión de analizar ese esquema o ese modelo”, dijo de Carrillo.
La comisión de Salud y Medio Ambiente, desde la semana pasada se encuentra discutiendo la propuesta presentada por el Ejecutivo y SIMETRISS, sin embargo, la del sindicato no ha sido valorado por los parlamentarios que pretenden darle paso a la del ejecutivo.
Esta decisión no deja de ser preocupante porque podría “exacerbar los ánimos de la gente, que se ha visto con una actitud pacífica, como se vio en la marcha realizada el sábado”.
“Pero no sabemos como pueden reaccionar ante un proyecto que definitivamente puede tender a privatizar en ciertos aspectos o dificultar a los más pobres, aspectos de atención a la salud, que se podría desatar en una consecuencia de violencia social”, señaló de Carrillo.
La procuradora aseguró que hasta la fecha no se ha creado una reforma tal y como la quiere la gente, porque no hay espacio para escuchar propuestas ante el pleno legislativo.

Sociedad civil
contra la privatización
Las medidas de presión de las ong´s en las afueras del palacio legislativo, por mayor participación de la sociedad civil en la propuesta; fueron ahogadas en la discusión de los y las legisladores sobre la ilegalidad o no.
Margarita Posada de la Red APSAL afirmó que la discusión de puntos neurálgicos como: el financiamiento y adjudicación de servicios, no podía ser discutidos superficialmente, sin garantizar antes el rol del Ministerio de Salud Pública y Asistencia Social
«En el articulado sólo le dan al ministerio de salud un ente rector y no de proveedor de asistencia y salud, no podemos dejar que se soslaye una función tan primordial, que afectarían a miles de salvadoreños», razonó.
Y agregó, que la concesión, adjudicación y permisos, para la participación de empresas privadas no es muy clara, y deja la puerta abierta a la privatización.
El diputado de ARENA, Enrique Valdez, afirmó que la participación del FMLN, en la protesta pública del fin de semana, no representa a la sociedad civil, y mucho menos, al gremio médico del país.
«Ofende que le hayan puesto gabachas blancas miembros de las organizaciones de fachada del FMLN, como si fueran médicos», agregó.