OCT. 14, 2015

President Bachelet launches campaign “Chile needs more doctors and specialists: Join the Public Health System”

In Luis Calvo Mackenna Hospital this morning the President explained that the recruiting campaign would be taken to every medical faculty in the country, stressing that “as a Government we have introduced a Plan for Recruiting, Training and Retaining Specialist Doctors. During the next four years this will enable us to bring 1,100 new doctors into Primary Healthcare and train 4,000 specialists, doctors and dentists.”

The President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, together with the Health Minister, Carmen Castillo, attended the launch of the campaign “Chile needs more doctors and specialists: Join the Public Health System” this morning in Luis Calvo Mackenna Hospital, Santiago.

“As the campaign says,” she explained, “doctors and specialists need to know and appreciate the opportunities offered by the Public Health System. This is why the recruiting campaign will be taken to every medical faculty in the country, where, I am sure, there is an enormous number of people with a vocation for public service who are waiting to contribute to the development of our country and the quality of life of our compatriots,” she said.
The President also noted that one of the government’s main concerns is to strengthen and guarantee the State’s capacity to respond, rapidly and effectively, to the needs of millions of Chileans who use the network of public consultancies, hospitals, family health centres and the emergency services.

“To deal with the shortcomings of our health system, as a Government we have introduced a Plan for Recruiting, Training and Retaining Specialist Doctors. During the next four years this will enable us to bring 1,100 new doctors into Primary Healthcare and train 4,000 specialists, doctors and dentists.”

She also stressed that “we have already made great progress. This year, thanks to the introduction of 370 additional vacancies per year in the Posting and Training Stage, for both rural and urban areas, we have added 538 new doctors to Primary Healthcare.”

She added that “with the introduction of additional vacancies in the Posting and Training Stage, by 2017 we will have added 1,100 new doctors to Primary Healthcare, and in April 2018 the figure will rise to 1,480.”

The President stressed that “we will move from a situation where there was one doctor for every 4,300 inhabitants in early 2014 at the start of this government to one where there is one for every 2,800 inhabitants, almost twice as many.”

In her speech President Bachelet thanked the Health Ministry for its work with the universities, the Chilean Association of Medical Faculties, the Chilean Association for the Teaching of Dentistry and the colleges of Doctors and Dental Surgeons, thanks to which the increase of 40% in vacancies for specialist training was achieved.

She also said that “through the introduction of additional vacancies in the Posting and Training Stage and the added number of specialisation vacancies we will reduce the shortcomings affecting public healthcare. And at the same time we will be able to give more professionals the opportunity of having this unique, priceless experience of practicing the social object of medicine, of reaching out to remote parts of the country, and of experiencing how different people live.”