some of these healthcare schemes such as that for blue and white collar workers were vertically integrated in that they also ran hospitals and primary care facilities to which patients were directed or obliged to visit at the same time the ministry of health operated a network of preventative and primary healthcare centres and hospitals though it often suffered from shortages in critical staff and basic resources particularly in regional areas the poor with green cards were eligible for free primary and emergency hospital care but did not receive reimbursements for outpatient care and had limited reimbursements for pharmaceuticals