May 1, 2024. Within the framework of Labor Day, the National Government announced the transition to the new 'Fomag health model'which seeks to improve service provision forto 818,960 teachers and beneficiaries affiliated with the Colombian teacher health system.
The Minister of National Education, Aurora Vergara Figueroa, representing the Board of Directors of the National Fund for Social Benefits of Teachers (Fomag), and the Minister of Health and Social Protection, Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo, accompanied the installation of the 'Unified Coordination Post of the Fomag', located in Fiduprevisora SA, and supervised the start of the operation of the call center, the digital platform and the regional coordinations ready to address the concerns of teachers and their families.
The Minister of Education, Aurora Vergara, addressed a message to teachers on that first day of transition: “The call center teams are prepared to guide each of the questions you have. “We are moving forward with agreements with the IPS and with each of the institutions, so that you can access these new services.”
Minister Jaramillo celebrated, for his part, that the new scheme began its transition on a symbolically important day for teachers and, in general, for all workers in the country, such as May 1st.
#I am a teacher And I tell you, the improvisation of the Government and the Fiduprevisora with the Health of the Teachers has no limits. Today, there is not even a Fomag Care Network, right? More than 900 thousand people adrift and each testimony of each patient without care is more heartbreaking pic.twitter.com/Nj7TfELxC5
— María Antonieta Cano Acosta (@AntonietaCano) May 7, 2024
While she speaks, you hear how a person who is in the medical center, but who does not appear in the video, responds that the change in the health system was done poorly. “What Fecode did is wrong, what the Ministry is doing is wrong”shouts the other user, whose voice is heard in the audiovisual material shared by the congresswoman.
That day, May 1, when the new scheme was announced, Minister Jaramillo stressed that this is, before anything else, “a model from teachers for teachers” and represents significant progress towards achieving the fundamental right to health for members of the teaching profession. “We began a great transition from a eminently economic, business system, to a system where with humanity, with heart and with dedication“We are going to serve the teachers,” he said. “Here we need teachers to be empowered by this model. “We do not want anyone to mediate this health service,” he added.
Contrary to these words, the scheme has been a disaster. And, because of this, José Milton Guzmán, national director of Fomag health, spoke out and asked the teachers for patience. ”As implementers of the new health care model for teachers, we have been working intensively with our allies, 2,800 health service providers from the primary provider and the complementary provider, which have allowed us to carry out at least 4,000 actions to address the needs and the requirements of active teachers, pensioners and their families and this leads us to request the active understanding of the entire Colombian society and, especially, of teachers, who are the direct beneficiaries of this new model and system,” was his brief statement.
At this time, relatives of teachers from Bogotá are desperate because they are NOT being treated after the improvisation of the new health model of the Teaching. The desperation of this lady to get her sister taken care of is PAINFUL and NO ONE DOES ANYTHING!@MinSaludCol@Mineducation… pic.twitter.com/AnfyK6KcUc
— Jennifer Pedraza Sandoval (@JenniferPedraz) May 7, 2024
The new model began with a national network in the 32 departments of the country, made up of more than 3,000 health providers, of which 524 are part of the primary level care network and 2,843 are part of the complementary care network. Also included are 31 accredited high-level institutions.
And the new health model? Teacher cries out for help for the health of her daughter. The teacher who is from Neiva had to go to Bogotá with her daughter who suffers from a disability. pic.twitter.com/csuiDXq7a5
— LA NACIÓN Newspaper (@PrensaLaNacion) May 6, 2024
“All the services of the Basic Care Plan, co-payments and moderating fees, transportation services and others exclusive to members of the Teaching profession are financed by Fomag,” said Jhon Mauricio Marín, president of Fiduprevisora SA. “The idea is to work in a articulated with Fiduprevisora SA to guarantee that in this new model an excellent service is provided for teachers. “This is not just any step, it is a qualitative step that splits history in two and has been under construction for more than 30 years,” he emphasized. Domingo Ayala, president of the Colombian Federation of Education Workers (Fecode).
40% of Fomag affiliates are concentrated in 14 municipalities: Medellín, Barranquilla, Cali, Cartagena, Montería, Cúcuta, Ibagué, Pasto, Santa Marta, Bucaramanga, Popayán, Neiva and Valledupar.
