The health system is the structure available in a region to provide medical care.
Health system is a concept that refers to the existing structure in a certain territory to provide health care to the population . These systems are responsible for preventing diseases and providing clinical care to people.
The ordered module of elements that interact and are interrelated is called a system . These elements that are part of the system can be material or abstract.
Health , for its part, is the concept that refers to the state of the organism when it is in a position to develop its functions normally. The idea of health transcends the absence of diseases and is linked to complete physical and mental well-being .
Operation of the health system
Clinics , sanatoriums , hospitals , doctors and nurses belong to the health system. There are various factors and issues that, although they are not part of the health system, influence it, such as food, educational services and housing conditions. A person without access to education, poorly nourished and who does not have basic services at home will require greater attention from the health system.
It should be noted that the State is the main supporter of the health system and is responsible for the operation of public hospitals and disease prevention campaigns. The private sector , however, can also manage health centers.
A health system must have the material and human resources necessary to serve the population.
Service quality
Typically, the richest countries have the most developed health systems, with advanced services. Therefore, on many occasions, people living in nations with a poor health system are forced to travel abroad to receive care.
Of course, the wealth of a country or its position in the race for technological advances does not always have a direct or proportional link with the quality of the healthcare service it offers to its population. The case of the United States is a clear example of this, since it has unleashed various controversies and harsh comparisons with countries such as Canada and England , where the situation is much better.
As mentioned above, the idea of health does not end in the mere absence of diseases, but rather describes a complex set of situations, among which is a good health care system, which offers all citizens the same possibilities and which focuses on both the physical and mental health of people.
Deficiencies in the public health system
One of the most common problems in relation to the health system occurs when a country does not have adequate public benefits and, in a way, forces its people to contract private plans. If a person does not feel safe unless they pay a fee every month to receive medical assistance , work pressures increase, since without work there is no health.
As unfortunate and difficult to believe as it may seem for people in advanced countries, public hospitals in many parts of the world are places where hostility and a lack of compassion and preparation reign. It is common for these centers to show pictures similar to those seen in war scenes, with dozens of people dying while waiting to be (poorly) cared for by professionals with questionable ethics and in offices whose hygiene leaves much to be desired.
It is important to point out that the health system often becomes a labyrinth from which it is difficult to escape . In some countries, the different layers of healthcare that patients with disorders such as alcoholism or drug addiction must navigate appear to push them deeper and deeper into a cycle of dependency, rather than helping them regain control over their own lives.