A thousand U.S. primary care physicians in Madrid for the symposium Advancing Community Health and Well-Being powered by We arean initiative founded by Dr. Ramon Tallaj that brings together more than 2,000 physicians who care for the poor in the state of New York.
Letter of reflection on today's medicine
In the framework of this symposium, Bishop Vincenzo Paglia announced a Charter, which will reflect the importance of the relationship between primary care physicians and patients.
A relationship that is not commercial but that goes beyond that, considering the patient in his or her personal integrity, and that is the beginning of a "political, cultural and economic reflection on health to give rise to a new medicine that is fair for all," stressed the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.
"We see economic injustices and health injustices," Paglia continued, and "a cultural revolution is needed" in this regard.
Paglia has focused especially on what he called "a new people living in the world" and that is the elderly.
At present, he emphasized, "the elderly are more than ever in the world, millions of people who make up an unknown, ignored people, about whom no one reflects". In this sense, he stated that "thanks to medicine we live 30 years longer and we don't know why. Everyone, not only governments, but also the Church, must reflect on the elderly.
Paglia recalled the recent events during the coronavirus pandemic, months in which thousands of people died. In this context, he affirmed that "we all faced the same storm but in different boats; the boats of the poor, of the elderly, those were destroyed with tremendous cruelty, sometimes without being able to say goodbye to their relatives.
Of these elderly, "many of them died more from loneliness than from the virus," said Paglia, who stressed that "the most important vaccine is love in an individualistic society," hence the importance of this letter, which is already underway.
SOMOS Community Care
For his part, the executive director of SOMOS, Mario Paredes, presented this organization, which was founded seven years ago by the physician Ramón Tallaj and whose aim is to "humanize the healthcare system", especially in the state of New York.
Its mission is to humanize and improve primary health care, and therefore the health conditions of the population, especially the so-called "poor" population. inner city.
Ramón Tallaj, founder of SOMOS, emphasized the relationship between the patient "and the one who cures him, which is what we know as medicine".
Today, SOMOS serves more than one million underserved people and its network of physicians, many of whom are of Hispanic origin, care for New York City's Medicalaid beneficiary patients with a holistic, integrated approach.
A thousand of these physicians came to Madrid, the venue of this year's medical symposium focused on health equity and universal and guaranteed access to health care.
