Colombia: A Healthcare System in Crisis
According to Francisco Jose Yepes Lujan, MD, PhD, from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia, the Colombian healthcare system is in crisis. In his essay, he discusses the reasons and suggests solutions to transform it.
By Francisco Jose Yepes Lujan, MD, PhD, Director, Graduate Studies in Health and Social Security Administration, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota, Colombia
The Colombian Healthcare System
The Polish healthcare system
In spite of the 20 years that have elapsed since first transformations, reform of Poland’s healthcare system has yet to be completed. The Polish healthcare system is nominally an insurance-based system, in reality, however, a para-insurance system evolving around a governing budget system.
By Janusz Michalak, President of Termedia Publishing House
The Portuguese Healthcare System: Successes and Challenges
The Portuguese healthcare system is characterized by three coexisting, overlapping systems: the NHS, a universal, tax-financed system; public and private insurance schemes for certain professions; and private voluntary health insurance.
By Jorge Simões, President of the Portuguese Health Regulation Authority (Entidade Reguladora da Saúde)
The Turkish Healthcare System
Healthcare reform initiatives in Turkey date back to the beginning of the 1990s. Recent reforms have put special emphasis on the reorganization of primary care services. The major drawback of the system is the lack of a referral system between primary, secondary, and tertiary care.
By Kamil Adalet, MD, Professor of Cardiology and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Istanbul, Head of the Department of Cardiology at the Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, University of Istanbul, Turkey
The South African Healthcare System
The reform of South Africa’s healthcare system is challenged by the historically state-generated inequalities, inadequate financing of the public healthcare system, the existence of a two-tiered healthcare system, human resource gaps, poor quality of healthcare, and a high burden of diseases.
By Olive Shisana, ScD, Chief Executive Officer, Human Sciences Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa
The UK Healthcare System
Since 1948, The National Health Service (NHS) of England has organized health services for residents through taxation, but the needs of patients and the limited resources available pose challenges for the NHS and its sustainability. Private care and the NHS are now forced to actively collaborate with one another to establish a mixed and functioning healthcare economy that supports England’s 50 million patients.
By Chris Ham, Executive Chief Officer of the King’s Fund; Professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of Birmingham, England; Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London and the Royal College of General Practitioners.
