The Urgency of Operating Outside the Public Health System
Accessing surgery can mean a wait of years—putting lives at risk—and yet solutions are beginning to emerge. Here is a look at how community organization is providing new tools to bridge that gap.
One of the major global healthcare challenges is the long waiting list for surgical procedures, which, while not always life-threatening emergencies, are essential for improving quality of life.
Hernia repairs, benign tumor removals, orthopedic surgeries, gynecological operations, and even pediatric procedures make up a backlog that often never materializes—especially in vulnerable communities. The lack of medical supplies, specialized professionals, and anesthesiologists turns a medical necessity into a bureaucratic ordeal.
In this context, performing surgeries outside the public system has become an increasingly vital option. Community clinics, private foundations, and charitable projects led by healthcare professionals are stepping in to meet the needs where the State fails to reach. Their shared motto: health cannot wait.
Accessing Surgery: The Response That Never Comes
The shortage of anesthesiologists is one of the primary obstacles to scheduling surgeries in public hospitals. Basic supplies such as gloves and suturing materials are also frequently unavailable. As a result, many professionals migrate to the private sector, where working conditions and pay are more stable.
Because of this, patients who should be operated on within weeks end up waiting months—or even years—and in many cases, what was once a scheduled procedure becomes an emergency, bringing higher risks and costs.
Faced with this reality, private initiatives have begun to mobilize. From major clinics to small, self-managed medical projects, nonprofits and foundations are financing surgical supplies and covering professional fees to ensure safe procedures outside the state system.
One such example is the Operar Hoy program, which brings together surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses for volunteer surgical sessions in private hospitals or community centers. These complete teams organize “surgical marathons” over weekends, performing up to 30 low- and medium-complexity operations that had been delayed for months.
Another case is the Corazones Abiertos Foundation, which funds pediatric cardiac surgeries. These initiatives operate thanks to private donations, municipal agreements, and the participation of professionals who dedicate their free time to meeting this urgent demand—changing the lives of thousands.
The commitment of those who choose to work outside the system, often without institutional support or recognition, reveals an ethics that transcends professional duty. These are doctors, nurses, and volunteers who see medicine not only as technical assistance but as an act of social justice.
When Communities Take the Lead
It is not only medical professionals who generate solutions. In towns and neighborhoods, communities themselves organize fundraising efforts and coordinate patient transportation to hospitals where surgeries can be performed.
Through raffles, donation drives, social media campaigns, and contributions from local businesses, they manage to gather enough funds to cover procedures that would otherwise be postponed indefinitely.
This dynamic shows that in contexts of vulnerability, resilience and solidarity become survival tools amid structural inequality. Those who have access to active community networks are more likely to find solutions than those who rely solely on state response.
Private and community projects have demonstrated their transformative power. Some are now building partnerships with universities, laboratories, and tech companies to develop more sustainable models—from online medical programs for preoperative assessments to the creation of low-cost supplies using 3D printing.
Digital platforms are also emerging to connect patients on waiting lists with professionals willing to perform surgeries in private clinics at social-rate fees. These alliances between technology, medicine, and solidarity are giving rise to a more inclusive healthcare model.
In this way, innovation is becoming a crucial tool for narrowing the surgical care gap.
An Urgent Reality
Nevertheless, the crisis in access to surgical care within the public system is a structural issue that demands solutions tied to funding and policy reform. Meanwhile, the urgency of patients’ needs has made operating outside the public system no longer an alternative—but the only viable path.
Amid the shortage of anesthesiologists, supplies, and reasonable wait times, solidarity and private organization have become essential tools to meet demand. They are not permanent solutions—but they are vital ones, because waiting in pain means risking health itself.