Colombia’s Comptroller General’s Office (CGO) is investigating 24 private healthcare intermediaries for misallocating $2.9 billion that was meant for COVID19 treatments during the 2020 pandemic.
According to the CGO, the healthcare intermediaries, or EPS’s, used $1.5 billion of emergency funds meant for hospital beds to cancel outstanding debts, grant bonuses to directors and even provide yoga for personnel.
The CGO additionally found that contractors were paid more than they had charged for reasons that could not be explained.
The watchdog report comes amid a mayor healthcare crisis caused by the bankruptcy of some of the largest EPS’s mentioned in the report.
In a report that was published in February, the GCO said that only five of the 26 registered EPS’s had the funds that allowed them to operate legally.
80% of Colombia’s healthcare intermediaries lack legally required funds
In a press statement, the CGO said that it had forwarded evidence of possible malfeasance to the Prosecutor General’s Office, which may open criminal investigations.
The Inspector General’s Office was also informed about findings that may merit disciplinary investigations into public officials.
Since the introduction of privatization in Colombia’s healthcare system in the early 1990’s, some 200 EPS’s have gone bankrupt.
These bankruptcies have caused major problems for the hospitals that end up not getting paid for services rendered.
The government of President Gustavo Petro sought to reform the healthcare system to remedy the systemic issue, but was stopped in its tracks by Congress earlier this year.
