Qualified health care personnel in Colombia have seen the impact on their working conditions accentuated during the pandemic. Professionals in nursing, medicine and nursing assistants present constant increases in the hours worked. Without the possibility of rest, there is a human resource that is insufficient to cover the high number of patients.
This is the conclusion of a study by the Universidad del Rosario and the Corporation for the Development of Social Security (CODESS), according to which nursing and medical personnel have been the fundamental axis for managing the pandemic from the health care area. health to patients, who around generally low-income conditions and types of contracting through provision of services, temporary or associated work cooperatives, the health emergency has led them to further deepen their inadequate working conditions.
There is an insufficient supply of personnel for the sector, which is reflected in the average number of patients seen in a working day: 25 patients per day for each nursing person, with female nurses serving on average a greater number of patients.
In the case of medical staff, male doctors see more patients each working day, with an average of 23 visits per day. Substantial difference with what is proposed by the OECD that recommends between 12 to 15 appointments per day for personnel in the health area in general.
The Great Integrated Household Survey -GEIH- indicates that by 2021, 80% of employed nursing staff were women. Likewise, between 2020 and 2021, the employed personnel increased in response to the pandemic (4.5% nursing personnel and 16.6% medical personnel), without having yet achieved sufficient levels to cover the requirements demanded by Covid. -19.
The study identified that the sector has low informality, defined as affiliation to social security. By 2021, the informality rate was around 7.4% for nursing staff and 5.6% for doctors. Within this population there is a large proportion of self-employed workers (35%), which may be possible evidence of inadequate employment conditions in relation to decent work.
The analysis showed that the average income of those employed in the sector exceeds the minimum required to access the Social Protection Floor. Nursing staff earn monthly per capita income on average between $2 and $2.8 million, while medical staff manage to reach and exceed $6 million per month. Men have higher average labor income than women, identifying gender wage gaps in the country.
In Bogotá, a considerable decrease in the salary of nursing personnel has been observed since 2019, while Cartagena is one of the cities that has presented the greatest reduction in salary for medical personnel.
The Universidad del Rosario and the Corporation for the development of Social Security conducted a survey that identified the type of support received by personnel trained in health care: 56% have resources to do their work, 27% have psychological support and only 10% have facilities to rest. Regarding economic benefits, 60% receive paid vacations, 40% have access to medical insurance, 33% receive transportation support and only 7% receive food support.