Ecuador’s Institute of Social Security (IESS) announced that it has $252 million to pay debts owed to health care providers across the country. In this regard, they indicated that the General Individual and Family Health Insurance Directorate of the IESS has authorized all provincial health coordination units to request invoices from service providers across the country for the payment of these values.

“During this week, we are looking for 2023 invoices, through the Secaf platform. Invoices corresponding to 2022 will be requested via electronic mail institutional. To guarantee payment, we encourage all external providers to upload all documentation through the platform only, to guarantee a transparent, efficient and timely process. It applies to all health service providers who have a contract with IESS,” said the IESS press release.

Meanwhile, the president of IESS, Alfredo Ortega, reported that he has made efforts to honor the debts owed to the lenders. And he asked them not to use any inappropriate channel to manage payment. “We pay everyone equally, it is the obligation of IESS to honor its obligations,” he said.

For his part, the director of IESS, Diego Salgado, said that the invoices must be uploaded to the Secaf computer platform and reiterated that “there are no personal procedures or intermediaries”.

A little over a month ago, Francisco Mora, director of the General Individual and Family Health Insurance of the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security (IESS), explained that the cancellation of the IESS Administrator fund will be carried out in order to inject about 195 million dollars into the Health Fund. He said it will be a completely legal operation, which also helps cover the cost of prevention due to the El Niño phenomenon and part of the debt owed to external health care providers. He also assured that the high frequency of external service providers who owe $1.2 billion will be reduced.

However, IESS reported that this payment would not be made through this sale operation, but through other funds.

The Health Administration also considered the construction of the new Teodoro Maldonado Carbo hospital, with a possible investment of 489 million dollars. The current government still remains in office, although the change of command will probably change the president of the Administrative Council, who is the representative of the President of the Republic.