Government creates School Health Program and repeals health insurance agreement

Policy

Government creates School Health Program and repeals health insurance agreement

Mineduc publishes agreement creating the School Health Program and details that it will cover emergency, illness and will provide medicine and support for funeral expenses.

March 1, 2024

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08:29h

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More than three million students have access to school health insurance (Photo: Hemeroteca PL).

The Ministry of Education (Mineduc) published this March 1, 2024 governmental agreement 36-2024 creating the School Health Program and also repealing the School Health Insurance implemented by the previous government.

Anabella Giracca, Minister of Education, published a video in social networks, together with Óscar Cordón, Minister of Health, in which they presented the School Health Program, which will serve students in the public sector as of March 1, 2024.

According to the official, the program aims to provide decent and quality care in the 340 municipalities of Guatemala, and "replaces, expands and improves the care previously provided".

He added that since March 1, the call center has been operating at the 1528 telephone number, which has professionals at the service of children and youths 24 hours a day and is close to the 190 health centers, 174 Permanent Attention Centers and 11 Integral Maternal and Child Attention Centers of the National Health System.

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Emergencies, laboratories and free medicines

"The 48 hospitals in the country have the instructions to attend emergencies, laboratory services and the required specialties. The medicines we will deliver will be free, with the data collected by the staff, both from the call center and face-to-face care, the technical team of the Ministry of Health will work on the continuous improvement and expansion of the services of the school health program", commented Cordón.

Funeral expenses

Giracca added that through the Ministry of Education, the School Health Program will provide coverage for funeral expenses, thus completing the program's service provision.

"We have managed, in just over a month of work, to have ready a solution that, from the public sector, improves the care provided until February of this year," said Giracca.

"The directors and teachers of public sector schools have the support they need to continue their educational work, which is complemented by health care for the children, adolescents and youth of Guatemala," he concluded.

The agreement

Article 1 of the governmental agreement published this Friday, creates the School Health Program, which will be in charge of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance and the Ministry of Education, within the scope of their competencies.

It is established that the objective of said program is to favor the health and permanence of students enrolled in the public education system, as well as to serve as an incentive to increase school enrollment through the promotion of health, prevention and attention of common diseases, conditions derived from accidents, supply of medicines and funeral services.

It adds that students enrolled in the public education system must be attended by personnel designated by the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, according to the level of resolution in which they provide services in a comprehensive manner, in accordance with the health regulations in force, determining the conduct/treatment to be followed promptly.

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On the subject of funeral services, it is mentioned that the purpose is to support families who suffer death due to accident or natural death of a student enrolled in the public education system.

It explains that the Ministry of Education will make a transfer to the parents or whoever corresponds, in accordance with the law, for the support of funeral services. For such purpose, the Ministry of Education will issue the necessary provisions.

It is established that the implementation of the referred program will be carried out progressively by both ministries, according to their competencies; for such purpose, a technical committee will be formed, which will issue the pertinent provisions.

"The Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, through the Directorate of the Medical Emergency System (SUME), will be responsible for implementing and developing the mechanism of telephone calls for the coordination and referral to the health services of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, for the attention of the students of the public education system", reads the agreement.

Financing

It is mentioned that for the financing for 2024, the Ministries of Education and of Public Health and Social Assistance will have to carry out the budgetary actions, in order to allocate the resources that will allow the execution of the School Health Program.

For the following fiscal years, both ministries will carry out the programming within their assigned budgets, in order to attend the School Health Program, according to the financial availability of the State.

The funds foreseen will be destined for the exclusive use of the School Health Program, as established in the agreement.

Disclosure

The Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency, in coordination with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, shall implement the strategies and administrative actions to communicate the benefits of the School Health Program to the inhabitants of the Nation, and it shall be disseminated through all means of social communication available to the State.

School Health Insurance is repealed

In the same agreement, the Ministry of Education also repeals Governmental Agreement 44-2020 dated March 19, 2020, by which the School Health Insurance Program was created and also annuls all provisions that contravene the present agreement published this March 1.

The new governmental agreement becomes effective the day of its publication in the Diario de Centro América, that is to say this March 1, 2024.