Government of Pedro Castillo: Peru is the country that has had the most changes in health ministers during the pandemic

2020 was a very tough year for many countries after the pandemic hit the world. Our country was no stranger, as weaknesses in the health sector were more strongly evident, a situation that had been dragging on for decades previous.

However, what has attracted attention and continues to weaken the Ministry of Health's portfolio are the constant changes of its ministers, who are already commuting three officials in just 9 months of Pedro Castillo's administration.

In this regard, Peru has experienced notorious ups and downs in terms of health management compared to other countries in Latin America, which continues to put us in the sights of the world.

Now, with 24 days in office, the current head of the sector, Jorge López, is the newest minister, who has the responsibility of continuing to deal with the third wave of the pandemic, improving health care and prevention of the more than 36 million Peruvians.

For her part, the director of the MVA in health at UPC University, Flor de María Philips, told Commerce that one of the most negative aspects for managing the pandemic has been the high ministerial turnover, this because the changes tend to be repeated in technical positions represented by deputy ministers and general directors.

“Short cycles of ministers always affect the efficiency of the sector. Ministers need time to understand the dynamics and mechanics and that can easily take three or four months,” said the former head of Susalud.

For his part, the former Minister of Health, Hernando Cevallos, endorses that “limitations make a stable administration more necessary”, which is why he ensures that these changes continue to weaken the sector, especially because of the presence of the former official who was censored by the Congress of the Republic for their serious questions.

After this, the former minister points out that the sector has an initial deficit of 60 billion soles to cover infrastructure and another deficit of 20 million soles in health professionals.

“The budget is always limited and it has to be managed rationally not to solve the underlying problems in the sector,” added Cevallos. (With information from El Comercio)

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF PEDRO CASTILLO PRESENTS A NEW CABINET?

In conversation with Infobae Peru, political scientist Alonso Cárdenas analyzed that if the president makes a new Cabinet change, he would be the fifth in nine months of government, that is, 30 ministers at that time, “something unprecedented in Latin America.”

Not only that. According to the political scientist, Castillo is facing a tougher path in the coming months: “The biggest problem of the government is the overexpectation that was generated and it does not have the capacity to fulfill, basically in the south, where the biggest protests are taking place; and in a couple of months it will be food security. Peru does not produce fertilizers; that is a complicated issue that the government is not handling; and the president and his team of advisors are not aware of it. For that, you need people with a knowledge profile and management capacity in key positions. That was the heel of Achilles: the terrible ability to convene and place people in key public office.”

“We are not at our best, but, despite this, we must continue doing journalism,” Pedro Salinas concluded, reflecting.

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