Aracataca, Magdalena, November 3, 2022. The land of the yellow butterflies, where Gabriel García-Márquez was born, was the setting for the launch of the Preventive and Predictive Health Program.

The president of the Republic, Gustavo Petro, indicated that yesterday, in the El Pozón neighborhood, in Cartagena, and today in Aracataca, Magdalena, two programs have been initiated by the National Government that were campaign promises and today are a government program, "and they will surely be recorded as public policy in the National Development Plan."

In Cartagena, he said housing improvements took place, a "real change in housing policy." "We want to positively affect 100,000 families per year, which would cost $1 trillion pesos per year, modifying the housing policy, which would flow not to the big businessman, but to the neighborhood bricklayer and the family that, having a house, cannot live well because it literally falls apart.

And in Aracataca, he asserted, this health program is founded on an implementation that other countries have already carried out, "and is based on the principle of universal right, the right to health." He mentioned that this program does not look at the person as "a potential client of the health market, but as a person; it does not classify human beings according to whether they have money or not, whether they are white or black, whether they were born in a privileged place or in a place of exclusion. It does not divide and does not transform you from a person to a client."

"The person is not an object of business, but a subject of law, which is different," he said.

The head of state mentioned the inequalities in the provision of services in the current health system. "When health is a market, like any market, it is a supply, a demand and a price. The market always has a price; the good that is offered has a price and those who demand it, if they have the means to pay for it, buy it. But if you can't afford it, you just don't buy it."

"When health becomes a market, like a market for shirts, then it has a price, there is an offer of services: machines, technology, specialists, services. But if you didn't buy a policy, if your health plan doesn't allow you those services, if you don't have the money to pay for them, you don't have them. The big difference between a shirt and a health service is that you can put up with not buying the shirt, but instead, in the health service, you can't do that. If you don't you buy it, you die," he said.

President Petro pointed out the importance of the indicators to compare ourselves with other health systems. As an example with covid-19, maternal mortality and breast cancer in Colombia, "according to the OECD, the mortality rate ranks 28th among 48 countries, with a rate of 20.2" This occurs "because when the first symptom of cancer is detected, women only get the first treatment, on average, 106 days later."

"Breast cancer mortality rate in Colombia is high, not because more women get sick, but because they are not treated like in other parts of the world, when they could be saved if attention were quick," he added.

Prevention is better than cure

Petro referred to the difficulty of access according to socioeconomic status in, for example, child malnutrition. "The health system can be good if you have the money, but if you don't, the probability of dying is four times higher. Your health system is adapted to your ability to pay. If the man or woman is poor, it's good," he said.

He also mentioned a fragment of 'Love and Other Demons' by Gabriel García-Márquez:

- And in the meantime?" asked the Marquis.

- "Meanwhile", said Abrenuncio, "play her music, fill the house with flowers, make the birds sing, take her to see the sunsets at sea, give her everything that can make her happy." He said goodbye with a wave of his hat in the air and the usual Latin stance. But this time he translated it in honor of the Marquis: "No medicine can cure what happiness cannot cure."

"This means that, if there is a favorable environment, if the person can have more happiness, that person can heal better." And that happiness environment that Gabriel García-Márquez poetically describes here, what is it? And mentioning Héctor Abad-Gómez, he referred to "food, shelter and affection," that is, "love as the basis of health and well-being. And I would dare to add education to get out of poverty."

President Petro mentioned the popular adage "prevention is better than cure" and in relation to public health, he resignified it in drinking water, good nutrition, clean air, love, possibilities of getting ahead, less pressure on life.

"A health system that, instead of waiting for the person in the hospital to stand in line, sometimes not being attended to, why don't we have a system that brings the doctor, the nurse and the psychologist to him or her?"  He centered on the importance of a universality where there is no question about the badge or the bank account, the color of the skin or the shape and quality of the neighborhood, "and you can have the same care from a doctor or a nurse."

A nurse who "at home can detect if you are well or if you are ill and you haven't yet noticed. If there is a person with a disability, if there is a woman who is pregnant, it is worth monitoring her care to determine if she could die.

And he mentioned that the program will start with one thousand teams and the goal is to have 20,000 medical teams, made up of a doctor, a psychologist, a nurse and several auxiliary nurses.

"I am convinced that in this way mortality indicators will fall. I am convinced that we will no longer be one of the worst health systems in the world, but most importantly: I am convinced that in this way millions of people will be saved from dying prematurely."

Finally, Petro recalled the importance of a system in which the human being is seen as "a human being and not a simple client who is measured if he has money in his pocket."