Health reform: nine senators remain firm in shelving the bill: Government will not withdraw it

A tense atmosphere was recorded on Tuesday, April 2, in the Seventh Commission of the Senate of the Republic, after announcing the third debate of the controversial health reform: one of the great projects promoted by the Government of President Gustavo Petro , and that continues to register obstacles in its processing in the legislature. And all because of the strong stance of the senators who remain firm that the positive presentation be shelved in the development of the discussion.

Norma Hurtado, from the U Party; Honorio Henríquez and Alirio Barrera, from the Democratic Center; Lorena Ríos, from Colombia Justa Libres; Nadia Biel Scaff and José Marín, from the Conservative; Miguel Pinto, from the Liberal; and Berenice Bedoya, from the Independent Social Alliance (ASI), who signed the proposal to practically sink the project; Like Senator Ana Paola Agudelo, from Mira, who also supports the initiative, they ratified their initial position.

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This despite the announcement by the Minister of Health, Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo, who confirmed that the Executive will not withdraw the reform, as they trust in moving it forward despite the fact that, to date, it would have no possibility of being processed. In this situation, Martha Peralta Epieyú, who is the president of the commissioncalled an informal session, so that congressmen can talk about the order of the agenda for the debate that is about to take place.

“We are not going to withdraw it. We are willing to make all the modifications, as we have been doing them“said Jaramillo, present in the commission along with the Minister of the Interior, Luis Fernando Velasco. Indeed, the idea of ​​​​the head of the portfolio is that understandings can be “reached” to save the spirit of the reform that the president wants to carry out.

Of course: the meeting only included the official party, because the signatories met in another of the offices to reaffirm their commitment with the proposal that the reform be shelved; which has just been approved in two debates in the House of Representatives, but apparently its days are numbered, given the inability of the Executive to reverse the situation, and the low acceptance of an alternative proposal, filed by Senator Fabián Díaz of Alianza Green.

In the midst of the discussion of the bill, The group of congressmen asked Peralta Epieyú to summon the vote for the third debate of the aforementioned reform for Wednesday, April 3, so they don’t want to give it any longer. A request that has generated a strong intersection between those who still defend the articles of the positive presentation and those who foresee that, during the vote, what seems, clearly, inevitable will be determined: its collapse.

Aboutthe Senate Ethics Commission has yet to review the challenges of those who are part of the commission; something that will not happen yet, since they must first resolve responsibilities over their own members. In total, 11 senators who are part of the commission in charge of endorsing or rejecting possible impediments were recused, and to analyze those that weigh against those who will vote for the reform, that discussion will have to be held.

The reason for the challenge to members of the ethics commission is due to the financing of the Health Promotion Entities to their respective parties and political movements, so they will not be able to study the challenges against those of the Seventh commission until they define their cases. . An issue that has generated controversy, since they would seek to enable senators who support the Government so that they can then, apparently, disqualify the opponents, and thus lengthen the processing of the impediments.