Boy’s plea to Colombia’s president exposes unequal access to healthcare

Lucas Murillo’s appeal for help reached Colombia’s president and led to rapid medical action. The seven-year-old, who was born with a congenital heart condition, says he uses oxygen, has had three open-heart surgeries and has only half a heart.

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My name is Lucas Francesco Murillo García, I am seven years old. I was born with a heart condition, and I always use oxygen. I live in Cúcuta, in Norte de Santander. I have had three open-heart surgeries because I only have half a heart.

In a video shared widely on social media, Lucas said his mother had spent a year trying to persuade Nueva EPS to authorise tests, a catheterisation at a fourth-level clinic and his inclusion on a heart-transplant list. “I don’t want to die,” he said.

President Abelardo de la Espriella ordered Health Minister Ana María Vesga to take charge of the case. He later said Lucas was receiving care through Nueva EPS and specialists at the Cardiovascular Foundation of Bucaramanga. Lucas was flown in a medical aircraft from Cúcuta to Bucaramanga and admitted to the Hospital Internacional de Colombia, which specialises in cardiovascular care.

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I don’t want to die.

The government’s response contrasts sharply with the case of Kevin Acosta, another seven-year-old. Kevin had hemophilia and died in February after the health system stopped supplying the medicines he needed, despite his case also receiving attention in the media and on social networks.

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I gave the immediate instruction to act, without delay.

The contrast has made Lucas’s treatment a wider test of Colombia’s health system. His case became a national issue after the president intervened, even as the handling of the episode appeared to carry a political element. At the end of a phone call with Lucas, and after prompting from people around him, the boy repeated “Firm for the homeland,” the campaign slogan De la Espriella has retained in government.

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Firm for the homeland