After EPS Sanitas patients flooded social media with complaints regarding computer system crashes that prevented them from accessing appointments and medications, parent company Keralty confirmed that they were experiencing technological problems.
It is a technological contingency of great proportions, since EPS Sanitas alone has more than 5.5 million affiliated patients in Colombia, which makes it one of the main EPS in the country.
“From the moment the failure was identified, we have implemented all our contingency plans and we are working with all our collaborators to provide continuity of care with the least possible impact, prioritizing the service to our affiliates,” they warned in a statement. which was published on the followingnoon of November 28.
“We regret the inconvenience that this situation generates, and we hope to solve this unforeseen event as soon as possible.”, they added in the same statement.
Keralty also indicated that he hoped to work manually in user care and that health services would not be affected by the computer contingency they were facing.
Likewise, through the patients’ cell phones they sent text messages in which they indicated that they were registering computer problems.
“EPS Health. We are presenting intermittent access to our service channels, we hope to restore the system within 48 hours”, they indicated. Some of the messages were sent around 1:48 p.m. on November 28.
But the problems persisted and the complaints from the patients also persisted on the morning of November 29. “Urgent, Superintendence of Health, what happens in the EPS Sanitas? Since Sunday, November 27, without a system, patients with treatments suspended due to lack of access to radiology and clinical results, ”a user warned this morning through his Twitter account.
“Gentlemen, SuperSalud, why doesn’t Sanitas Eps have social networks in Colombia? I mean, the channel is calling and they don’t answer…”another Twitter user complained.
They confirm that there was a cyberattack once morest him
Around 11:00 am on November 29, the Keralty company issued a statement once more in which it referred to the situation of EPS Sanitas, which has both its patients and employees on edge, which have reported through social networks the impossibility of accessing the company’s system.
In the midst of this situation, they admitted that their computer services were attacked. “The computer servers of the Keralty Group companies have been the object of a cyberattack, which has generated technical failures in our systems”they indicated.
And they added that their technological team is working hard to recover the system.
“Likewise, From the beginning, this situation was brought to the attention of the competent authorities and the respective criminal investigation has been initiated.”, they warned. And they added that they are already implementing contingency plans to maintain medical services and take care of the health of members.
“We regret the inconvenience this situation has generated. We keep the doors of our facilities open to meet the requirements of our users and we ratify our commitment to provide a prompt solution”they concluded.
It is not the first time that Sanitas has had problems with its computer services in the last week. In fact, several patients of that EPS complained because they had difficulties to acquire medicines distributed by Cruz Verde during the past week.
“The delay in service at some service points in the city and on digital channels corresponds to transactional delays related to the medication dispensing system for Sanitas users”, Cruz Verde responded at the time and indicated that the delivery of medicines had not been suspended.
For now, neither the Superintendence of Health nor the Ministry of Health have ruled on the case.