'President Petro made a false statement yesterday about the health crisis': Former Minister Alejandro Gaviria harshly criticized the president.

Former Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria harshly criticized President Gustavo Petro's statements during his speech and the subsequent Council of Ministers meeting on Tuesday, in which he made serious accusations about the health system . These included accusations that health insurance companies owe clinics and hospitals more than 100 billion pesos and that the owner of Keralty, the group to which Sanitas belongs, "is a criminal."

“Beyond the inconsistencies, the hippos, and the pedigree dogs, President Petro made a false statement yesterday about the health crisis,” Gaviria wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) account. “He was never clear about the sources of the figures. He mentioned a figure of 100 billion in EPS debt without explanation, contrived, speculative, and meaningless.”

In his post, the former minister also questioned the veracity of the figures presented by Petro regarding the intervened EPSs. "He mentioned that the debts of the intervened EPSs decreased; the Supersalud figures say otherwise," he noted. He added that the president "seemed unaware that his government had intervened in the EPS Famisanar."

Gaviria went further, warning that the president deliberately ignored the real situation of the system under his administration. “He ignored the worsening of all the system's indicators during his administration. He omitted, for example, the substantial increase in guardianships,” he wrote.

He also criticized the president for dismissing legal warnings about his health policy. "He attacked the Constitutional Court's arguments without figures," he charged, referring to the Court's decision to reverse the Superintendency of Health's decision to intervene in the EPS.

Finally, Gaviria questioned Petro's unsubstantiated accusations against systemic figures. "He made accusations of corruption and theft when there are no open fiscal or criminal investigations," the former minister concluded.

The former minister's statements come amid a growing controversy over President Petro's criticisms of the insurance model, the EPSs, and some of their directors. According to the president, the Health Promotion Entities (EPS) have accumulated debts of more than 100 billion pesos. However, official figures from the Comptroller's Office indicate that this amount rises to $32.9 billion, including current and past-due debts.

Petro also asserted that his administration has "stopped the bleeding" of the system by reducing the debt of intervened EPSs by 707 billion pesos. However, he omitted key figures from other entities also under state control, leaving a gap of at least 4 trillion pesos in the balance sheet.

Regarding the accusations against the president of Keralty, whom Petro called a "criminal," there is no court ruling to support this claim, which has raised concerns about the use of epithets without legal basis by the head of state.

Gaviria, who served as Minister of Health from 2012 to 2018, has been one of the Petro administration's most vocal critics on health matters. In his speeches, he has defended the structure of the current health system while warning of the risks of an improvised reform. His latest statement adds to the criticism accusing the government of promoting a distorted narrative to justify its intervention in the sector.

Environment and Health Journalist