- The Minister of Health analyzed the effects of the covid-19 pandemic in social settings and the importance of caring for children.

Pasto, June 25, 2020. Fernando Ruiz, Minister of Health and Social Protection, visited Hospital Infantil Los Ángeles on Thursday during his visit to Pasto, Nariño, and reiterated the importance of pediatric hospitals as well as care for the youngest in the framework of the health emergency caused by covid-19.

"The function and social vocation of an institution like this are essential. Pediatric hospitals must be fundamental. If a society does not think of its children first, then it makes no sense," said the head of the health ministry.

He also stated that although covid-19 is a disease that affects the adult population in terms of seriousness, "we cannot neglect the child population and all the evidence available. The real fact is that children are dying in Colombia," he said. He then commended the initiative in the Nariño province for its endeavors as a network.

Changes

In his presentation, the minister also noted that the covid-19 pandemic will change us in many ways as a society, "in the way we work, because surely we will not have the same job in the office again, but work at home will continue to be important; and in health matters, it will change us too."

"Many of the problems that we have had in service for covid-19 have to do with the non-comprehensive vision of care and the emphasis that we do not have on priority, how to integrate what is happening in societies with what is happening" he pointed out.

In addition, from his experience as a health professional, he said that he has always been convinced that health is ultimately the result of all policies, that, in the end, all the problems of society converge in a health issue. "And Covid-19 taught us that this happened in a rush," he added.

"I would have never imagined that from one moment to the next, all government policies would pass through the health sector: transport, industry, construction, environment, among others. And now, as we are in the process of gradual opening, what we, in the health sector, have had to do is teach people how we should behave, what rules we should follow," he said.

Therefore, and with all the changes of the so-called 'new normality,' on his visit to the children's hospital, he ended his presentation by saying that "in this environment, children are crucial."