“Las Drogas La Rebaja must be a public institution. The domain is now extinguished, it belongs to the State, but at the service of the most needy population in the country, and it covers the entire country. So this effort is the beginning of the health reform,” said President Gustavo Petro this Saturday, who emphasized: “Drugs La Rebaja must go to the Ministry of Health.”
The statement was made by the Head of State during the event ‘The Government Listens’, which took place in the town of Paz de Río, in Boyacá, where he called on officials to “leave fear” and advance in that purpose to lower the cost of medicines.
“With the workers’ cooperative – it is not about kicking them out – three large programs must be implemented: one, each point of Drugs La Rebaja can now be part of the primary care centers that we propose in the reform bill. Two, since the specialty of this company is the sale and delivery of medicines, look for the Minister of Health (Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo) that are the cheapest. You have to make agreements, even international ones, to be able to sell or deliver much cheaper medicines than there are today, ”he asserted.
Regarding the third program, the President stated that it is necessary to articulate the production of vaccines for human beings with the company Vecol.
“I think that we must promote and articulate the production of vaccines with the company Vecol. That is one of the paradoxes of neoliberalism, which we have defeated. The National Institute of Health makes vaccines for humans and Vecol for animals. They closed the production of vaccines for humans and stopped the production of vaccines for animals. Now it is about doing both, but starting a production of vaccines in Colombia made by the State, through Vecol, and hopefully using these companies that are in Drogas La Rebaja”, indicated President Petro.
Prioritize rural roads
In ‘The Government Listens’, the Head of State once again invited the Community Action Boards to prioritize the development of rural roads.
“The Community Action Boards must be ready to assume something that they already know how to do in Colombia, which is the stretch of rural roads, rural community action roads. I have asked that rural community action councils be held to prioritize the sections in the department. That the technicians at the service of the politicians do not do it, it must be the communal actions that prioritize the roads”, concluded the President.