The Ministry of Health has opened a project for comments that would transfer over six million users from their current EPS to other entities, as warned by the National Table of Health User Associations. The initiative aims to rehabilitate the health system through territorial criteria but raises concerns about violating the right to free choice. The proposal would exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in the sector, impacting patients and medical staff.
The National Table of Health User Associations issued an alert regarding a new administrative act from the Ministry of Health, open for public comments. This government project plans to issue a decree that would structurally modify the health system and initiate a rehabilitation process for Health Promoting Entities (EPS) based on territorial criteria.
According to the entity, the measure would affect 6.6 million users, with 3.19 million moving to Nueva EPS, 289,262 to Savia Salud, and 533,429 to S.O.S., among other assignments. This redistribution is viewed as a violation of the right to free choice of EPS, as users would be relocated to intervened entities lacking adequate service capacity.
"The affected users, by virtue of the decree, will be transferred to intervened EPS without service provision capacity, violating users' rights, without allowing them to exercise their right to free choice of EPS," explained the National Table. The initiative is seen as an aggravation of the current humanitarian crisis in Colombia's health system, with direct impacts on patients, users, and sector personnel.
The project, published on September 2, 2026, seeks deep reforms but has sparked concern over its implications for service delivery. No official responses from the Ministry have been reported in available sources.