Brussels — The early autumn air clung to the cobblestone streets like a persistent memory, a reminder of the weight of history that hangs over this city. As Mark Rutte stepped into the NATO headquarters, his gaze swept the room, his footsteps the only sound echoing in the stillness. His voice, steady and calm, pierced the quiet as he addressed the alliance. “We must ensure Ukraine prevails as a sovereign, independent, and democratic nation.” The words, though resolute, carried an undercurrent of vulnerability, as if, beneath the armor of diplomacy, Rutte, too, wondered how much longer this war-torn nation could endure.
The Silent Surge of Healthcare Complaints: Why the 11.2% Increase Matters
An equally heavy air weighs on Colombia’s healthcare system, though its crisis may not be as visible as NATO’s headlines. This year, complaints about healthcare services have surged by 11.21%—a sharp rise that speaks to a deeper issue, one that cuts across the very soul of a nation striving for equity in health.
The Unexpected Crisis in Healthcare Access
When we think of healthcare, we often think of healing—a sanctuary from life’s unpredictability. But in 2024, that promise of healing has faltered for millions of Colombians. The rise in healthcare service complaints wasn’t sudden. It was gradual, almost insidious, like a tide creeping in before anyone realized they were standing on sinking ground.
In just one month, August 2024, 144,558 complaints were filed, a figure that no statistic alone can convey. Behind every number is a person—a mother waiting in anguish for a child’s medication, an elderly man growing weaker with every delayed appointment. These aren’t just complaints. They’re calls for help, often unanswered.
The Human Cost of an Overwhelmed System
It’s easy to get lost in the numbers—11.21%, 144,558 complaints—but each of these percentages represents a lived experience. Like the elderly woman in Bogotá who, despite her frailty, spent weeks pleading for the medication her life depended on. Or the young man in Santander, whose surgery kept getting delayed as he watched his condition worsen with every passing day.
“More than 70% of complaints in August alone were due to delayed appointments, postponed procedures, or incomplete medication deliveries,” according to a recent Supersalud report. But behind those statistics, there’s something raw and deeply human—the pain of unmet needs, the quiet desperation of families left in limbo by a system that was supposed to care for them.
These complaints, driven by EPS interventions, delayed medication deliveries, and a complex web of bureaucracy, reflect the daily struggles of ordinary people—those whose lives hang in the balance because a system designed to provide care is buckling under the weight of inefficiency and financial constraints.
Why Are Complaints Increasing? The Deep-Rooted Issues in EPS
At the heart of this crisis are the EPS interventions—specifically Nueva EPS and Sanitas, two of Colombia’s largest health service providers. The numbers tell part of the story. Nueva EPS, for example, saw a 5% increase in complaints from 2023 to 2024, amounting to 19,103 cases in August alone. These aren’t just administrative failures—they’re the cracks through which the most vulnerable fall.
Many point to inefficient networks, with health centers too far from the homes of the people they serve. As Julio Rincón, the intervention agent for Nueva EPS, candidly admitted, “Our network is concentrated in certain parts of the city, far from where the people live. We’re working to fix it, but the solution won’t come overnight.”
Broken Chain: How the Scarcity of Medications Feeds the Crisis
The scarcity of medications has become the most visible symbol of this healthcare breakdown. Sanitas, facing an unprecedented 77.5% rise in complaints related to medication delays, has been scrambling to fix its supply chain issues. The newly implemented strategy of integrating nine new operators into their medication supply network has yet to quell the rising tide of discontent.
Imagine the despair of walking into a pharmacy, only to be told that your life-saving treatment isn’t available—not today, not tomorrow, and maybe not next week either. “We know this has been one of the critical issues for our patients,” said Duver Vargas Rojas, Sanitas’ intervention agent, but knowing isn’t enough. Action, swift and decisive, is what’s needed.
Tutelas: The Last Line of Defense for Desperate Patients
Amid the chaos, Colombians are turning to tutelas, a legal instrument that allows citizens to demand their constitutional right to healthcare. From January to April 2024, health-related tutelas surged by 42.2%, with 77.5% of those tied directly to medication shortages and delayed treatments.
But a tutela, for many, is not a solution—it’s a last resort. It’s the bureaucratic equivalent of a life raft in a sea of broken promises, and it’s one that far too many are being forced to cling to.
What Lies Ahead? The Systemic Financial Crisis No One Is Talking About
Behind the day-to-day struggles is a larger, more insidious issue—systemic underfunding. As former Minister of Health Augusto Galán Sarmiento pointed out, “The problem in access is directly tied to financial constraints. The system is buckling under pressure, and without restructuring, this crisis will only deepen.”
When a nation’s healthcare system fails, it’s not just a failure of policy; it’s a failure of humanity. And for the millions who rely on this system, the solution cannot come fast enough.
Can Reforms and New Strategies Heal the Wounds?
As Sanitas rolls out its new pharmaceutical strategy—hoping to blanket 99.9% of the country with medication access points—there’s hope on the horizon. But hope, much like medicine, must be delivered on time. Otherwise, it’s just another promise left unmet.
For now, the crisis continues. But perhaps, in the flicker of reform, we’ll see something that has eluded the healthcare system for so long: a glimmer of change.
