During his years at the College, he has had to be the voice of the specialists in peak moments such as Hurricane Maria and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Víctor Ramos, outgoing President of the College of Surgeons of Puerto Rico (CMCPR). Photo: Journal of Medicine and Public Health. Photo: File. Fabiola Plaza.
It all started when he began his training in medicine, it was there that his own classmates made him their leader and spokesperson at the School of Medicine of the Medical Sciences Campus. Those were years of student struggles for medical students to be recognized a space in the first teaching center in the country.
Then came other struggles than today Dr. Victor Ramos he did not evade, joining the fight for the departure of the Navy of the Army of the United States from the Island Municipality of Vieques. He assumed his commitment to history until he became one of the key leaders in the area of medicine so that the small island of the Puerto Rican archipelago, hit by bombs and cancer, could have peace and health.
As a logical consequence of his militancy for justice and human rights, years later, already a pediatrician, his own colleagues took him to the presidency of the College of Medical Surgeons of Puerto Rico, making the boy of humble origins the youngest President in the history of the institution.
Among his most outstanding efforts over the years is the imposing structure of the headquarters of the College of Surgeons of Puerto Rico, a space that has spaces for all members whose goal is to be an emblem for at least 30 years, in which would not need any changes.
Another relevant aspect is his strong defense of the services to the collegiate doctor, where there are already hundreds of doctors who have the active decree, for the decrees of tax benefits, which in Ramos’ opinion is of vital importance for the collegiate.
From this space the Dr. Victor Ramossupported 3 bills that seek to prevent the flight of Puerto Rican medical professionals, which continue to be of vital importance to achieve the goal of avoiding losing valuable resources.
*That Medicare and Medicaid pay the right thing, and so do commercial plans, whose rates haven’t been revised for 25 years. This bill is in the Senate;
*That closed or preferred networks be eliminated in Puerto Rico, since this leaves out young doctors. It is project 1546 that is in the Chamber; Y
* That contracts are not canceled without cause. The advantage plans have canceled more than 2000 contracts and if this happens, for example, in the case of a generalist, it can take away 90% of the patients, leaving no other option than to leave.
Advocacy for patients in his presidency
The Dr. Victor Ramospresident of the College of Medical Surgeons of Puerto Rico, has defended patients from facts that became injustices in his eyes, some more notorious than others in the media, but that always had an echo in his management.
“Usually, insurers, all students who study abroad, whether in the United States or outside the United States, the parents or the student himself, pay the insurance for when he is on vacation in Puerto Rico, it is covering him and the insurer receives money gushing with that for a service they don’t provide because the students aren’t in Puerto Rico,” Dr. Ramos denounced after the case of young Alexis Joel Hernández, who suffered an accident in Mexico and the insurer violated his rights.
Dr. Ramos and COVID-19
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he accompanied his colleagues in the most important decisions for the benefit of the health of Puerto Ricans. Critical and firm, he has been a fundamental piece and his voice in interviews with this medium and others, are followed to the letter by government agencies.
The spaces where his voice could reach, he took advantage of to educate the population about this virus, about which little was known and which at the time put the world in check.
He participated, together with the Department of Health and the VOCES Coalition, in making Puerto Rico the undisputed leader in vaccination in the United States, reaching a percentage higher than that registered in other parts of the North American country.
The Dr. Victor Ramoswho does not have the 4% decree and feels firsthand what many doctors without great economic resources suffer, promises that one of his next fights will be to ensure that all general practitioners and primary care physicians have the same benefits as specialists.
“The approval of Law 47-2020, which made the 4% decree available, was one of my greatest satisfactions. The next step is to ensure that all colleagues benefit,” he said.
And it is that the Fiscal Control Board stopped the implementation of the law because they understood that the Government had not adequately explained the amount of funds that it would cost the treasury. “We met with Fortaleza and asked that the dispute be taken to Federal Court, and that case is before the First Circuit in Boston, case 21-1071, Pierluisi v. FOMB,” he added.
“We are still fighting so that all doctors have the decree,” he reiterated.