Title
Mandatory requirement of social health service in Peru: Discriminatory and unconstitutional
Other title
El requisito obligatorio del servicio social en salud del Perú: Discriminatorio e inconstitucional
Date Issued
01 January 2014
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Publisher(s)
Instituto Nacional de Salud
Abstract
The rural and urban-edge health service (SERUMS) is an activity that only health professionals perform for the Peruvian government, as it is a mandatory requirement to qualify for a second specialty or to work in public hospitals and public health care facilities, and obtain government scholarships for future training. The few legal changes in the rules of this social program and the focus of “service” restricted to health professionals lead to a perception of this policy as discriminatory and unconstitutional because it violates the right to education and work. There is no scientific evidence that supports the usefulness and effectiveness of this program in terms of quality of service and health indicator improvement, as well as in adequate distribution and retention of health professionals. We suggest to abolish the compulsory requirement and to reformulate a political strategy to help attract and retain health professionals in vulnerable areas of Peru.
Start page
781
End page
787
Volume
31
Issue
4
Language
Spanish
OCDE Knowledge area
Políticas de salud, Servicios de salud
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84920939439
PubMed ID
Source
Revista Peruana de Medicina Experimental y Salud Publica
ISSN of the container
17264634
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus