In Colombia, health-care providers have their own distinctive and protective emblem called the “misión médica”, a term that encompasses medical services as a whole. In August 2002, the promotion and use of this emblem to identify medical personnel, facilities and vehicles became a national priority when the Ministry of Health and Social Protection issued a decree stipulating that medical services must be protected. The decree also prompted the drafting, in 2008, of the country’s first-ever manual covering protection for medical services.
In 2012, the decree was amended to extend protection for medical services to include all situations of violence, not just armed conflict, and the manual was revised accordingly. Now widely circulated among health-care professionals, the manual provides practical advice on a number of issues, including attacks on medical staff and patients, acts of perfidy, the use of the protective emblem and monitoring of its misuse. The guidelines it contains for ensuring the safety of medical personnel, facilities and vehicles makes the manual a unique tool.
“We find the manual very useful because it responds to the daily concerns of health-care professionals,” said Ivonne Muñoz, a government representative in charge of protection for medical services in Cauca, south-western Colombia. “Thanks to the manual, hospitals and health-care workers are more aware of the legal framework applicable to their professions and more interested in doing things right – also, every time a violation is committed against medical services, we get a report, as it should be.”
The full article continues at http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/article/health-care-in-danger/2014-02/hcid-colombia-medical-services.htm on ICRC’s website. ICRC is an observer of the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition.