Former Health Minister Questions Official Data on Hospital Network Decline

Former Health Minister Ximena Aguilera Sanhueza has responded to claims of a "sustained deterioration" in Chile's hospital network, attributed by current Minister Chomali to a drop in the Management Commitments (Comges) index from 86.7% in 2021 to 68.6% in 2025. Aguilera argues that the Comges methodology has changed significantly each year in terms of periodicity, indicators, and commitments, making direct percentage comparisons misleading. She points out that new requirements were added from 2025 onwards, and that the increased demands focused on government-declared priorities like waiting times and GES guarantees, suggesting a self-imposed higher target rather than a decline in management. Furthermore, Aguilera clarifies that the note conflated two distinct evaluation instruments: the Comges for 29 Health Services and the Balanced Scorecard for 62 autonomously managed hospitals, which use separate methodologies. She contends that presenting these as a single "deterioration" figure causes confusion and that each series should be analyzed and published independently with its methodological details. Aguilera also highlighted concrete achievements during the period, including historically low waiting times since 2016, recovery of pandemic-related life expectancy losses (with Chile leading Latin America), zero infant deaths from VRS, zero co-payments for Fonasa, and expanded coverage for high-cost medications, including for triple-negative breast cancer.