Colombian Migration speeds up the PPT process for Venezuelans seeking care at the Erasmo Meoz Hospital in Cúcuta

• The Colombian State has a debt equivalent to 32 million dollars with the health center for care of undocumented migrants

Migración Colombia reached an agreement with the Erasmo Meoz Hospital in Cúcuta, in Norte de Santander (Colombia), to expedite the processing of the Temporary Protection Permit (PPT) for Venezuelans who request medical care at that health center.

With the PPT, patients can join a Subsidized System Administrator (ARS), which supports the service provided by the hospital and allows the State to pay the health center for the care provided.

This proposal was submitted by the hospital authorities, because the Colombian State has a debt of 130 billion Colombian pesos (approximately 32 million dollars) with the health center for the care of Venezuelan migrants. This amount has accumulated from 2016 to 2024.

What is PPT and what are its benefits?

The Temporary Protection Permit is a document that allows Venezuelan migrants to remain in Colombian territory legally. This allows free movement within the country, as well as entering and leaving the nation without exceeding the period of 180 days outside Colombia.

With this document, migrants can access health services, open bank accounts and apply for work permits.

“We propose to join forces to guarantee the provision of services to migrant patients,” said Alex Noguera, deputy manager of the Erasmo Meoz Hospital, to the newspaper The opinion From cucuta.

The first Venezuelan to benefit

Alex Noguera explained that this measure began to be applied during the first week of July. One Venezuelan patient has already benefited from the agreement with Migración Colombia.

The patient is a child from San Cristóbal, Táchira state. The immigration agency expedited all the necessary procedures to issue the document, including enrollment in a school in the city, which is a necessary requirement to give the PPT to children and adolescents.

Photo: The Opinion

Noguera said that the pediatric patient received the required care and that the invoice was issued so that the State might pay the hospital for the service.

The idea is to have zero barriers, so that both the PPT and the affiliation to the health system are done in the shortest time possible,” added the deputy manager.

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It is not a perfect measure

Noguera indicated that it is possible that not all cases will be successfully handled, because Migración Colombia might encounter obstacles to processing the PPT.

Despite this, he clarified that they will not stop caring for Venezuelan migrants who arrive at the hospital. He argued that they might not do so because health is a fundamental right that must be guaranteed.

He also said that the goal is to mitigate the State’s debt with the hospital, that is, to prevent it from increasing as rapidly as it has in the last eight years.

Noguera told the Colombian media that the Government of Norte de Santander is working in parallel on a proposal for a comprehensive plan for migrant care. The initiative will be presented to the Ministry of Health of that country.

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