Bill 397.

Summary.

The bill states that the State, through the Ministry of Health (Ministerio de Salud), must safeguard the population’s health. It connects that duty to the timely availability of funding for programs, plans, projects, strategies and actions aimed at transforming health services. The stated purpose of that transformation is to ensure that patients receive effective, equitable, high-quality and humane care. The provision identifies the Ministry of Health as the authority responsible for directing health matters and links its budgetary resources to the implementation of those activities.

Within the General State Budget, the bill gives priority to the budget for the health sector. It sets a minimum of 6 % of the previous year’s Gross Domestic Product for fiscal year 2027; 7 % for fiscal year 2028; and 8 % for fiscal year 2029. It includes capital transfers to other health sector institutions in the Ministry of Health’s public expenditure and investments. The institutions listed are the National Water Supply and Sewerage Institute (Instituto de Acueductos y Alcantarillados Nacionales), the Social Security Fund (Caja de Seguro Social), the Urban and Household Sanitation Authority (Autoridad de Aseo Urbano y Domiciliario) and the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies (Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud). The provision also includes the various boards that administer public hospitals.

The bill allows the State to establish increases proportional to the needs presented by the Ministry of Health. These increases are intended to address the population’s public health needs efficiently and equitably. The provision requires transparency and accountability in the budget management associated with those needs. The text therefore provides for the possibility of increasing resources in response to needs presented by the Ministry, alongside the minimum allocations specified for the fiscal years listed in the bill.

Regarding service delivery, the bill requires services provided in public health facilities to be integrated so that they are delivered without distinction or discrimination of any kind. This integration is to enable universal access to and coverage of health services. The bill provides that the proposed law would take effect in the fiscal year following its promulgation.

The bill concerns the budget management and service delivery of the Ministry of Health; capital transfers to the National Water Supply and Sewerage Institute, the Social Security Fund, the Urban and Household Sanitation Authority and the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies; and the boards that administer public hospitals. Its provisions would also affect the public health service sector, patients and the population using public health facilities.