The Chamber of Deputies has rejected the sale of over 3.5 million shares of stock in the Metropolitan Hospital of Santiago (HOMS) for US$13 million or more. The government became a shareholder when hospital investors needed an injection of funds for finishing the medical center.
The Health Commission of the lower chamber, chaired by Juana Vicente, issued a report that said that the state should not get rid of its shares in HOMS because the medical center serves many local inhabitants. The report was approved by 107 of the deputies present. There were also many other suggestions by the deputies, including an audit and a revision of the services offered by the best medical facility in the northern half of the country. According to El Nuevo Diario, the suggestions included one by the PRSC spokesman Ramon Rogelio Genao, who suggested that the shares be passed to SeNaSa, the state health insurance agency, so that its members could be treated at the HOMS. This move would strengthen the Catastrophic Illnesses Fund that was recently created by President Medina.