Peru

Healthcare System

Highly fragmented system with parallel public and private insurers operating independently. SIS covers the poor and uninsured; ESSALUD covers formal sector workers via mandatory employer contribution; MINSA hospitals serve the uninsured; military and police have own systems. Significant informal sector (70% of workforce) is underserved. Healthcare quality and access varies greatly by altitude, geography, and urbanicity.

System Type: Fragmented multi-insurer
Regulatory Body: DIGEMID (Dirección General de Medicamentos, Insumos y Drogas) — drug regulation; SuSalud (Superintendencia Nacional de Salud) — insurer oversight; MINSA — healthcare policy
Data Protection: Ley 29733 (Ley de Protección de Datos Personales); DS 003-2013-JUS (implementing regulations)
Currency: PEN
Emergency Number: 116 (SAMU — ambulance), 105 (Policía Nacional del Perú), 116 (ESSALUD emergency line)
Languages: es

Coding Systems

diagnosis

CIE-10 (Spanish ICD-10)

Clasificación Internacional de Enfermedades, Décima Revisión — Spanish WHO ICD-10 base. MINSA mandates CIE-10 for all facilities. Codes are identical to WHO ICD-10 numeric codes; descriptions in Spanish. ESSALUD and MINSA both use CIE-10. No national extensions.

procedures

CPT (American Medical Association) via ESSALUD

ESSALUD billing uses CPT (Current Procedural Terminology) codes for procedure documentation and internal billing. Some ESSALUD hospitals reference CPT directly. MINSA public sector uses a descriptive procedure list (PNPBP) without formal CPT adoption. Private clínicas may use CPT or descriptive coding. CPT overlap with US CPT is a distinctive feature of Peruvian ESSALUD records — many procedure codes map directly.

dental

FDI (ISO 3950)

Federation Dentaire Internationale two-digit notation — standard in Peru

drugs

DIGEMID Registro Sanitario

DIGEMID (Dirección General de Medicamentos, Insumos y Drogas) — national drug regulatory agency under MINSA. All approved medications carry Registro Sanitario DIGEMID number. DIGEMID regulates drug scheduling, bioequivalence, and pharmacovigilance. Petitorio Nacional Único de Medicamentos Esenciales (PNUME) is the national essential medicines list used by ESSALUD and MINSA.

Translation Corridors

PE→US (Peruvian-Americans with US insurance needing ESSALUD/MINSA records translated for coverage continuity) PE→ES (Peruvians in Spain needing records for SNS access after residency establishment) PE→CL (Peruvian workers in Chile — CIE-10 same codes but insurance system differs significantly) PE→AR (Peruvians in Buenos Aires — both use CIE-10, Argentinian OSDE/PAMI system differs) VE→PE (Venezuelan patients in Lima — both use CIE-10)

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