El reto por desarrollar una salud pública en contraposición a una salud privada / The challenge of developing public healthcare as opposed to private healthcare

Desde hace bastantes años se viene hablando de una crisis de la salud pública, por lo que hablar de su futuro se hace difícil. En una suerte de exegeta se podría decir que de no cambiarse las bases epistemológicas de la salud pública que lleven a una renovación teórico-metodológica y de la praxis, sumado a una renovación del Estado y tal vez lo más importante, a una renovación de la acción de la sociedad organizada en sus comunidades, el futuro de la salud publica será, como antinomia, la salud privada, es decir la responsabilidad de la salud del pueblo será un asunto individual, privado y de mercado. El articulo analiza el futuro de la salud pública apoyado en las voces y opiniones del campo de la medicina social, a partir de revisar en primer lugar asuntos de la historia de la salud pública para intentar ver los orígenes epistemológicos de este campo de conocimiento, en segundo lugar, ver los retos actuales de la salud pública y en tercer lugar plantear algunos posibles caminos para salir de la crisis y poder vislumbrar un futuro de la salud publica diferente al de una salud privada, mercantilizada, excluyente, que profundiza las inequidades sanitarias.

Since many years ago, it has been talking about a crisis in public health and that is why, talking about the future in this field seems to be difficult. As a sort of exegesis, it might be said that if the epistemological basis of public health are not changed to lead to theoretical-methodological renovation and a change in praxis in addition to a renewal of the State, and the most important thing, renewed actions by the community-organized society, the future of the public healthcare will be, by antinomy, the private healthcare. This means that responsibility for the people's health will turn into an individual, private and market-level issue. The article analyzed the future of public health by taking into account the voices and the opinions in the field of social medicine and reviewing firstly the public health history issues in order to find out the epistemological origin of this field of knowledge, the present challenges and also to state some possible ways to overcome this crisis and be able to glimpse a future for public healthcare different from that of the mercantilist and exclusive private healthcare that makes health inequalities deeper.

Study on management of the practice of private traditional medicine and pharmacy in Hanoi

A study on private traditional medicine network in Ha Noi city was conducted from February 1998 to April 1998. Result showed that there are 396 private traditional medicine outlets to date in the urban area of Hanoi focusing in Hoankiem, Dongda, Haibatrung, Badinh districts with 31.4%, 27.3%, 19.2%, 12.9%, respectively. In the new established districts, the number of outlets is lower. Generally, The working time and the address of the outlets are not appropriated with the original application registered. Traditional medicine providers include good experienced traditional physician, consultations and prescribers, traditional medicine qualified doctors with 28.1%, 24.3%, 21.8% respectively, and the rest is roughly prepared traditional medicine wholesalers and retailers. Official regulations for traditional medicine are not uniform and systematical raising difficulties on control and administration.

La medicina privada en México: resultados del Censo Nacional de Unidades Hospitalarias Privadas / Private medicine in Mexico: results from the National Census on Private Hospitalization Units

El objetivo de este estudio fue cuantificar los recursos de la medicina privada mediante un censo de unidades médicas con servicio de hospitalización, realizado en el primer trimestre de 1994 con base en la información jurisdiccional. Se registraron en todo el país 2 723 unidades médicas del sector privado con camas de hospitalización. En el Distrito Federal y los estados de México, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Baja California y Veracruz se concentra cerca de la mitad de las unidades. El total de camas censables registradas en el país de 33 937, de tal manera que la medicina privada es el principal proveedor de camas de hospitalización del Sistema Nacional de Salud; se encontraron resultados similares en cuanto al resto de recursos materiales humanos

A census of private health establishments was carried out by the Secretary of Health, in order to quantify its resources and to describe their geographical distribution. The census, conducted in 1994, was limited to private units which offered hospitalization services, and the reference period was the previous year. Results showed that there are 2 723 private hospitalization units in Mexico, and nearly a half of the units are concentrated in the Federal District, and the states of Mexico, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Baja California and Veracruz. The number of private hospitalization beds registered in the country are 33 937, these figures indicate that private medicine is the main hospital care provider in the national health system. Similar results were obtained regarding other material and human resources. It is important to stress the need for further research regarding the role of private medicine in Mexico, including aspects related to the quality of the services being provided.