In addition to the members of the Senate Health Committee, a hundred people linked to the healthcare sector attended the special session held this Monday. Among them were the Minister of Health, May Chomali, along with her undersecretaries Julio Montt, of Care Networks, and Alejandra Pizarro, of Public Health, as well as former authorities and representatives of the private sector, such as the Isapres Association and the Clinics Association. All of them shared a common conclusion: the health system needs changes.
At the meeting, titled "Where is health in Chile heading? Modernization and pending reforms," several aspects of the system were reviewed, such as waiting lists, hospital management, medications, and reforms.
One of the first to speak was Minister Chomali, who acknowledged that "we need changes and I thank the Senate because we all need them. We are not being efficient and effective. For example, there are prevention and control programs, and an extremely high rate of avoidable hospitalization with territorial inequality. The increase in budget does not relate to an increase in production, health goals, and management commitments; resources are used inappropriately."
Furthermore, Chomali insisted that increases in the Health budget have not necessarily translated into an increase in production. In fact, a few weeks ago, she pointed towards her predecessors during Gabriel Boric's government - Begoña Yarz...
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In addition to the members of the Senate Health Committee, about a hundred people involved in the healthcare sector attended the special session held this Monday. Among them were Health Minister May Chomali, along with her undersecretaries Julio Montt, of Care Networks, and Alejandra Pizarro, of Public Health, as well as former authorities and representatives from the private sector, such as the Isapres Association and the Clinics Association. All of them shared a common conclusion: the health system needs changes. In the meeting, titled "Where is health in Chile heading? Modernization and pending reforms," various aspects of the system were reviewed, such as waiting lists, hospital management, medications, and reforms. One of the first to speak was Minister Chomali, who acknowledged that "we need changes and I thank the Senate because we all need them. We are not being efficient and effective. For example, there are prevention and control programs, and an extremely high rate of avoidable hospitalizations with territorial inequality. The increase in budget does not relate to increased production, health goals, and management commitments; resources are used inappropriately." Furthermore, Chomali insisted that increases in the Health budget have not necessarily translated into increased production. In fact, a few weeks ago, she pointed to her predecessors during Gabriel Boric's government—Begoña Yarza and Ximena Aguilera—when analyzing the fulfillment of the Management Commitments (Comges) of the Health Services, which are responsible for hospitals across the country by territorial zones. According to figures revealed by the Ministry to La Tercera, these decreased from 86.7% in 2021 to 68.6% in 2025. "We have just shown numbers regarding how our health services in hospitals have deteriorated, in meeting health goals and management commitments. We have been able to observe how certain extremely valuable resources are used inappropriately. We are not being effective, nor efficient, and for that, changes are needed—legislative changes, regulatory changes, changes in organizational culture," stated the head of the health portfolio. At the start of the session, the Chair of the Health Committee, Juan Luis Castro, acknowledged that "the second citizen concern is health; we talk about lack of access, high medication costs, waiting lists—problems that underlie the collective consciousness. We are here to analyze the need for progressive changes in this political cycle that allows for a space of reflection. We know we are navigating with financial scarcity; pragmatic, grounded measures are required." Prevention and spending One of the main topics addressed was the approach the health system should take. In this regard, several speakers—including former Health Minister Jaime Mañalich, former Undersecretary of Care Networks Luis Castillo, and the Vice President of the Medical College, Mauricio Osorio—agreed that prevention should occupy a central role. Among the proposals was strengthening primary care and turning it into the main entry point to the health system. They also proposed that other actors in the system take on a more prominent role, for example, allowing nurses to prescribe medications. Sebastián Piñera's former minister also addressed system financing. Year after year, the resources allocated to the healthcare network are a subject of debate, especially because budgets are considered insufficient, and hospitals often warn towards the end of the year that they no longer have resources to sustain their operations. However, among the experts convened and even from the Ministry of Health itself, it has been suggested on various occasions that the problem has a more structural component. Nonetheless, Mañalich, now an academic at Clapes UC, assured that "the Ministries of Finance and Health do not communicate. The central premise must be that not investing in prevention ends up being an unlimited expense. In diseases like cancer, mental health, and metabolic diseases, this is evident. Health spending has an important investment component." The last part of the meeting, called "Pending reforms in the health sector: what are they, why, and how to address them?" aimed to debate various aspects of the system, such as medical leaves, the implementation of the short law for Isapres, and the management of waiting lists. Senator Castro concluded the meeting by stating that he will summon the speakers to regular committees to continue the debate. "Let us not lose sight of the political space we are creating to discuss how we approach the different intervention methods that can address these problems," he concluded.