The journey of President Gustavo Petro, who was accompanied by part of his cabinet, began last Monday in Bogotá and Soacha, then continued in Barranquilla, Cartagena, and Santa Marta, in the north of the country.

Petro announced that the new health reform project will be presented with an urgent message to Congress, as a way to give it priority. He also said that the country’s health care system is gradually deteriorating, to the point that now there are only about seven Health Promotion Companies out of over a hundred created by the 1993 Law 100.

“It is a system that is dying, that is going to die, but Congress does not approve the new model and, obviously, it sends us towards a crisis, which we cannot tolerate. Therefore, in the legal loopholes that we have, we are implementing a new health model,” he explained.

The president added that this new program that is being developed throughout the national territory already has five thousand basic primary care teams financed and in operation. “We have to reach 11 thousand, it is our goal. This system is already on wheels, rolling, it must be publicized more,” he advised.

Petro called for setting up a pilot program to treat addiction and abuse caused by drug use, aimed at young people and that can be replicated throughout the national territory, according to the results and statistics. The plan must include preventive health teams of psychologists to deal with cases of addiction and drug use in a personalized way, he said.

As part of the event, Petro delivered 30 hectares for the foundation of the Karabi Drua Indigenous reservation, in the municipality of Balboa, Risaralda.

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