Bogotá, Colombia – In a step toward justice, Colombia’s Superintendencia Nacional de Salud has issued a directive that aims to ensure the right to health for trans individuals, a long-awaited move that acknowledges the country’s need for a more inclusive healthcare system. Signed into effect in 2024, Circular 2024150000000011-5 outlines detailed measures to break down barriers to health services for transgender people, aiming to eliminate discrimination and ensure comprehensive care across the nation.
The circular, described as a crucial tool in advancing trans rights, emphasizes the importance of providing healthcare with a differential approach. Its provisions focus on addressing accessibility, availability, and quality of health services for those who face systemic challenges due to their gender identity. As Ángela Parra, a prominent representative of the LGBTIQ+ community, explains, “This is more than just a directive for inclusion. It’s a critical step to address the specific issues of access, service quality, and timely care that diverse gender identities face in Colombia’s healthcare system.”
Guidelines Seek to Correct Systemic Healthcare Inequities
The Superintendencia’s guidelines offer a roadmap for improving health services, targeting several key areas where trans individuals face discrimination. It provides twelve general instructions to healthcare institutions, ensuring that public and private health providers are held accountable for inclusive care. In addition, fifteen specific directives were issued to regional health authorities, while thirteen guidelines focus on insurance corporations, ensuring equitable healthcare access at every level. The guidelines also involve pharmaceutical managers, underscoring the commitment to holistic healthcare.
Luis Carlos Leal Angarita, the National Health Superintendent, captured the gravity of this moment, stating: “This country has owed a debt to trans individuals for far too long. Today, we begin to make history by correcting past injustices.” His words reflect a broader national effort to remove the institutional barriers that have historically marginalized transgender people.
Holding Health Institutions Accountable for Change
The new regulations come with strong enforcement measures, allowing the Superintendencia to impose administrative sanctions on any health entities that fail to comply. These penalties are designed to hold healthcare providers, insurance companies, and territorial health entities responsible for delivering care that meets the standards set forth in the circular.
At its core, this effort is about fostering an inclusive environment within Colombia’s healthcare system. The Superintendencia’s circular demands that healthcare institutions recognize and address the unique needs of trans individuals, ensuring that no person is denied their right to quality care based on their gender identity. As Leal Angarita states, “We need a healthcare system that treats people with dignity, that trains healthcare professionals to see every patient as a whole person.”
This moment marks a significant turning point in Colombia’s journey toward social justice and human rights, as the country begins to unravel the deep-seated prejudices that have long prevented transgender people from receiving the care they deserve.
