Fundación Espriu chairs the assembly of the international health cooperative movement

The meeting, which on this occasion was held by videoconference because of the pandemic, gathered major cooperative businesses of the global healthcare sector.

During his speech, Dr Carlos Zarco, who has presided over the organisation since 2017, noted the immense difficulties that the health sector has had to face around the world this year. However, he recalled that cooperatives have for many years demonstrated their ability to overcome crises and added that "the current context of transformation provides cooperatives with new opportunities for expansion in the health field".

The participants in the assembly conveyed a message of solidarity to all those affected by COVID-19 and expressed "their greatest appreciation to all health professionals who have spent many months concentrating all their efforts, commitment and dedication to fighting the health emergency created by the pandemic".

The diversity of entities that make up the IHCO gave special interest to exchanging experiences. The managers of these companies presented the various strategies that have been designed to deal with the pandemic, as well as the lessons learned in health management in the face of the sudden increase in demand for services.

In addition to other issues, the assembly agreed on the action plan for 2021. The organisation will focus on raising awareness about the important contributions that the cooperative business model can make to health systems, and on facilitating inter-cooperation between the members. The IHCO will also work to become a knowledge hub dedicated to collecting, producing and sharing information on the cooperative healthcare model.