Desperate patients struggle to afford basic care and medicines as Petro pushes for a bigger state role in the Andean nation's once-robust medical system.

President Gustavo Petro wanted to expand the state's role in Colombia's health care. Instead, he's crushing a once-robust system that had been among the most effective in Latin America.

First maternity wards and neonatal units started shutting down. Now emergency rooms are closing their doors. Patients are waiting longer for urgent care. And families are struggling to pay for medicines that used to be provided for free.