Location: Lima, Peru
Language: Spanish
Duration: 00:02:51
Source: A24
Restrictions: A24 Subscribers
Dateline: 03/25/2022
Storyline
Experts and academics have been questioning the latest decision of the government to appoint Peru’s health minister, who is accused by experts and Peruvians at large of being “inexperienced.” The appointment of Hernan Condori as the minister of health has caused controversy across Peru because of his lack of experience and several other scandals associated with his name. This prompted Peruvians, the scientific community in the country, the Medical College of Peru and Congress to demand his removal from his post. Dr. Raúl Urquizo, Dean of the Medical College of Peru, said that Peru is lagging in terms of its health system regionally, adding that the authorities have overlooked recommendations to improve and modernize the sector and said that the health sector has continued to “deteriorate.”
Shotslist
(Soundbite) Dr. Raúl Urquizo, Dean of the Medical College of Peru:
“The country’s public health system is one of the least funded in the region. For many years we’ve asked for more but it has been overlooked by politicians. With the advent of the pandemic, we’ve seen the manifestation of the deterioration of the public health system.
“The current Health Minister is being questioned and will be censored because we advertised an alleged medicine with no scientific basis, he’s being investigated for corruption, he has posed as a doctor of a different kind of specialties other than his, so there’s a series of negative antecedents. This is why the medical College of Peru is asking for his dismissal, aside from the political party he represents, what we’re asking is for somebody with a background of actually knowing the system, and above all that has good antecedents. So we believe that Congress should listen to our proposal to remove him from the Ministry. “
(Soundbite) Almendra Rodriguez, Researcher of the Network of Studies for Development – Red de Estudios para el Desarrollo (REDES) :
“Who is (Hernán) Condori? He is a surgeon, he has some experience in the regional government of the province of Junin, but something important to mention is that the State comptroller noted that when he was designated in that role in Junin he only lasted 6 days in his job because he lacked the expertise. That says a lot about him, and the main subject is that not only that he lacks experience in public health in terms of having managed the public administration, but he hasn’t worked in any high-ranking position in the health ministry.
“Peru is the country with the highest rate of deaths [due to COVID] per million habitants, according to the John Hopkins University. There are serious deficiencies in the public health system in terms of infrastructure, human resources, and lack of medical equipment. According to the Health Minister in 2020, one of two medical establishments didn’t have any medics. Taking into account all this context of how we are right now, how the pandemic left us and what those grave deficiencies are, what we need is continuous leadership, and what we can assess from the designation of Condori is that it doesn’t respond to technical criteria but a political quota .”
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