Doctors working on programmes corresponding to the National Health Ministry have resigned their posts en masse, denouncing the “dismantling” of key initiatives and warning of “grave, imminent risks” to public health.
Healthcare professionals forming part of the Ministry’s Dirección de Control de Enfermedades Inmunoprevenibles (“Directorate for the Control of Immuno-preventable Diseases,” DiCEI) announced their decision in a statement criticising President Javier Milei’s government and accusing it of failing to meet “basic legal obligations.”
The DiCEI directorate is responsible for ensuring vaccine safety and quality, coordinating outbreak responses, and guaranteeing nationwide accessibility.
Slamming “current decisions that prioritise short-term budget cuts at the expense of prevention and control policies,” the doctors complained that key workers had been fired and not replaced. Vital experience has been lost, they added.
"We will not be part of a Ministry where essential programmes cannot fulfil their basic legal obligations. Our resignation is an act of medical ethics, civic and professional responsibility, and an urgent warning,” read an open letter penned by the DiCEI workers.
“Public health is not an expense; it is an investment in the life and well-being of society as a whole," it concluded.
The healthcare professionals said the Health Ministry had implemented severe budget cuts that had heavily affected vaccination and immuno-preventable disease programmes within the DiCEI framework.
Recent dismissals include two key experts in measles and hepatitis A, both of whom played fundamental roles in outbreak coordination and monitoring, according to the group.
The sackings have sparked a wave of resignations in solidarity, with many professionals unwilling to continue working at a government portfolio that, according to their claims, has abandoned its core responsibilities.
Infectious disease specialist Carolina Selent, who was among those who stepped down, voiced concern over a lack of staffing in critical areas.
"Key colleagues have not been reinstated, including those leading major campaigns on flu vaccination, pertussis surveillance [a previously controlled disease that is now resurging], and Hepatitis A and measles monitoring — both of which are currently experiencing outbreaks," she explained.
"María Del Valle Juárez and Nathalia Katz, who specialised in hepatitis A and flu vaccination, had been in their roles for over 13 years. That level of expertise is not easily replaced. Moreover, the current administration has been handling things very poorly. Our resignations are a refusal to endorse what is happening," she added.
"Those who remain will try to keep things running, but it’s not the same as having dedicated specialists. There is now no-one left in vaccine safety, pertussis, or Hepatitis A surveillance," Selent lamented.
"The national health authority provides oversight for the provinces, but the measles outbreak spread significantly because the necessary containment measures were not implemented in time. The expertise of Gabriela Elbert and Marcela Yunes — who had managed multiple outbreaks in the past and ensured proper case follow-up — was missing," she said.
"Vaccination rates are already quite low and measles is highly contagious. In this context, the situation is complex and we cannot sustain the policies we previously had in place," she warned.
"They have no idea what our departments do. DiCEI was left without a director for a long time. Mid-level management is unfamiliar with the work of each area. We now have a director, but she comes from the HIV field, not vaccines. They believe everything can continue as usual because they don’t understand what we do. That’s dangerous. They think they are cutting ‘ghost employees,’ but their decisions are based on ignorance. That’s the most serious issue," she stressed.
"We are rolling back over 15 years of progress in vaccination registry systems," said Nathalia Katz, another departing infectious disease specialist who had worked at DiCEI since 2010.
"We were carrying out meticulous micro-planning with the provinces to improve coverage. Now, I don’t know what will happen. We were already overwhelmed. The person responsible for the vaccination registry was fired. Until now, every citizen’s vaccinations were recorded in the system — something almost no other country in the region has achieved," she explained.
"This directorate grew to become one of the most important immunisation departments in the world. Experts from all over seek advice on our experience … We can’t believe what’s happening," Katz lamented.
Doctors, nurses and patients marched in Buenos Aires earlier this month “in defence of public health” to protest against layoffs, the defunding of health care programmes and cuts in medical supplies.
“We call for this federal march in defence of public health and for life ... against lay-offs and the emptying of the public health system,” read a joint document read from a stage in front of hundreds of demonstrators.
As part of his “chainsaw” plan of government, Milei cut state spending by 27 percent last year and laid off more than 30,000 public employees.
Lugones has defended the administration, saying the President seeks to “reorganise a system that was in decline.” He took aim at “those who oppose the changes” and said that ‘they lie and play politics with the health of Argentines.”
At the beginning of February, Milei announced that Argentina would withdraw from the World Health Organisation (WHO) because of “profound differences.”
– TIMES/PERFIL/AFP/NA
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