The Guatemalan public hospital system

Abstract

This case takes the perspective of a Minister of Health, who oversees the capacity restrictions and balance of the national healthcare system. This case addresses one of the most common and important issues in healthcare in Latin America: coping with increasing demand of a larger and aging population, with severely constrained capacity. The case describes a situation faced by Guatemala's Minister of Health in April of 2015, when he is forced to redefine the priority level of hospital infrastructure projects. The case provides information on regional healthcare infrastructure and describes the route followed by patients to reach the highest level of medical attention. The reader is usually surprised to find out that the Ministry's plans to expand hospital capacity seldom consider regional needs. These decisions are often guided by political criteria. The reader can solve the case by defining a strategy to expand system's capacity redefining patient's logistics, and elaborating a new pitch for multilateral finance institutions.