Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

Hernán Garrido Lecca, Peru's Health Minister, announced on Tuesday that for the Andean country to reach minimum World Health Organization standards, 16,500 more workers would have to be hired.

In his statements, the Health Minister specified that World Health Organization standards called for 7,000 more doctors, 7,000 more nurses and 2,500 more obstetricians in Peru.

He explained that hiring this number of personnel would cost the country an additional 1 billion soles.

When speaking on a plan to hire the new personnel, Garrido Lecca stated that the new professionals could be incorporated into the country's health care system within the next five years.

He suggested that by the end of Alan Garcia's administration it was possible that the country could reach the WHO standard.

It was reported that for every 10,000 people in Lima, there were 15 health professionals. This is only Lima's case, however.

Reports show that in the rest of Peru there are only 4 - 5 health professionals for every 10,000 people.

To create a balance, the Health Minister explained that personnel needed to be reassigned so that there are at least 10 health professionals for every 10,000 people in all of Peru's regions.