Everything Sanitas users need to know after the Constitutional Court ruling overturned the government's intervention.

The Colombian Constitutional Court has annulled the decision of the Superintendency of Health (Supersalud) that had ordered, corrected, and extended the government's intervention in the Health Promotion Entity (EPS) Sanitas , part of the Spanish group Keralty, and its assets.

This means that it repealed two resolutions: the first, in which the Supersalud "ordered the immediate seizure of the assets, property, and businesses of the Sanitas SAS Health Promotion Entity for a period of one year, as well as the forced intervention to exercise the administration of said EPS" and the second, a resolution from April of this year, "through which said intervention measure was extended for one year."

These are the key points of what happened in this dispute and what will happen to the millions of users of this EPS following the recent decision by the high court.

On April 2, 2024, the National Government announced that it would intervene in the Sanitas Health System. According to the Health Superintendency at the time, this was motivated by multiple reasons , including noncompliance with financial authorization, debts, and the number of requests, complaints, and claims filed by users.

"This EPS's debts with service providers have been increasing, and last year, as of December, they reached $2 billion pesos, which clearly affects the provision of health services," said former Health Superintendent Luis Carlos Leal in his statement posted on the President's Facebook page.

A year later, in April of this year, the Superintendency of Health extended the administrative intervention of EPS Sanitas , according to the government entity because of persistent "regulatory noncompliance regarding financial conditions and the provision of services to its users."

In 2024, following the initial ruling, Keralty announced it would take several legal actions to try to reverse the decision. These included filing a complaint with the Attorney General's Office and filing legal protections.

"In addition to criminal proceedings , we have planned actions before the administrative courts, which we cannot yet initiate at this time due to procedural issues. We still have constitutional actions, such as tutela actions , and from an international perspective, we also have some actions in development, such as reporting this situation to the Inter-American System for the Protection of Human Rights, as well as to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health," Keralty's lawyer, Juan David Riveros, told EL TIEMPO.

He added: "Furthermore, the foreign investors who are part of the group have announced through a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Trade that they intend to formally notify a dispute under the applicable internal reciprocal investment protection treaties."

However, months later, it was learned that the Superior Court of Bogotá had denied the protection.

The Keralty group, owner of EPS Sanitas, turned to "international bodies" in January of this year (2025) to resolve this dispute, which, it claimed, affected its financial situation and the provision of its services.

Keralty Group shareholders stated that the government's measures "constitute arbitrary, discriminatory, and unfair treatment, which has resulted in the destruction of EPS Sanitas's economic value, to the detriment of its shareholders, employees, and Colombian society in general."

For that reason, and given the difficulties in reaching an "amicable resolution" to the dispute, the business group—which in April 2024 had already filed a criminal complaint against the then Colombian health superintendent, Luis Carlos Leal, for the government's intervention in Sanitas—brought the case to the international arena.

Keralty did not provide details of this lawsuit, but it was reported that the shareholders filed it with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), alleging that the intervention violated the agreement for the reciprocal protection of investments between Spain and Colombia.

For this reason, Keralty's shareholders, Centauro Capital (61%) and Natanor XXI (39%), are demanding $1.2 billion from the Colombian State.

He added: "The administrative, financial, and strategic decisions that for more than a year were under the direct supervision of the National Health Superintendency are once again in the hands of the EPS itself."

Keralty Group lawyer Juan David Riveros said in a press conference on June 27 that the Constitutional Court's decision is not "an end, but a beginning."

And he added that they have "the unwavering commitment to try to move forward and, in doing so, find a crash plan to try, to the extent possible, to restore the EPS's operations, as has always been the purpose of this group, prioritizing patients, users, collaborators, our network of providers, suppliers, but asking everyone for a commitment, to accompany them, to have a little more patience and resilience in the face of what has been a totally arbitrary, illegal, and discriminatory act against us ."

The company's lawyer said they will continue to participate in the country's healthcare system "in a proactive manner." However, they demand full reparations, truth, and accountability.

Furthermore, in a recent statement, the group stated that they will work to rebuild EPS Sanitas. "It will be an arduous task. We will do it with pain, but also with conviction. We are not driven by resentment. We are driven by a love of life, health, and Colombia," the statement reads.

The company added that " today marks the beginning of a new era. It will not be easy to repair the serious damage and losses caused by an erratic and unjust intervention, with a negative impact on the health of Colombians. At Keralty and EPS Sanitas, we will put all our efforts into addressing the situation with dignity, science, compassion, and courage. We insist on the necessary reorganization and immediate compliance by the Colombian State of its obligations and commitments to address this complex process."

"However, what for many should be a day of joy for the restoration of justice today is for us a day of mourning (...) Because this was not a mistake, it was a premeditated, arbitrary, malicious, deliberate, and announced strategy that the Colombian State executed," the group said in the statement.

And they stated that today they received " a devastated company ," financially compromised, with deteriorating services, fragmented networks, and "human teams wounded in the depths of their vocation."

"We do not want revenge. But we do demand full reparations, truth, and accountability. And we will say this clearly: we will continue the relevant actions against the Colombian State , and the masterminds and operatives of this outrage will be held accountable before national and international courts," the company concluded in the statement.

GERALDINE BAJONERO VASQUEZ

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