A hospital specialising in mental health in the south of Buenos Aires has become the latest flashpoint for concerns over budget-slashing cutbacks introduced by President Javier Milei’s government.
Reports emerged Monday that Argentina's government had decided to close down the Hospital Nacional Laura Bonaparte in Parque Patricios.
In a statement, the National Health Ministry denied its closure but said it would enter a process of “restructuring” under the watch of a team of experts.
The news prompted a mobilisation by hundreds of workers who fear for their jobs. Hospital workers called a permanent general assembly and said they would stage a vigil at the site.
They called on patients, citizens and civil associations to join them “in defence of state hospitals and public healthcare.”
The National Health Ministry said Tuesday that it had launched a “restructuring plan” for the mental health hospital, which it said will be overseen by an “interdisciplinary team.”
“The decision responds to the objective of prioritising the allocation of resources to patients in need. In order to move forward with the reorganisation of the health centre, the Health Ministry has begun to refer patients to other institutions,” it continued.
The statement criticised the “underutilisation” of the hospital’s capacity, which it claimed is “reflected in the reduced number of patients treated at the institution.”
“It is worth noting that the health establishment receives a budget of 17 billion pesos a year and has a very low occupancy rate,” it added, citing an “average annual admission of 19 patients per day.”
Deputy Health Minister Cecilia Loccisano, speaking to the press, assured that “the way the hospital is now, it is unviable.”
Doctors and nurses countered that by stating that the hospital had treated more than 25,000 people over the last year.
Workers on Tuesday said they had not been fully informed of the government’s plans.
In an interview with the Noticias Argentinas news agency on Tuesday, Raquel Rodriguez, an administrative staff member in the Patient Management Services, said: “We are still on vigil, today we have an assembly in the afternoon to decide how we will continue.”
“At the moment we are attending outpatients, scheduled appointments and the accident and emergency area continues to function. Those who are hospitalised remain at the Hospital without any news,” she added.
Suspension of services
The row broke out last Friday, when local media said national health authorities ordered the immediate suspension of hospitalisation and nightshift services.
Workers said they had been notified about the closure of the services and the shuttering of the institution.
Health Ministry sources, quoted across local outlets, said the closure of the institution was already “under way.”
Healthcare professionals immediately voiced concerns over patients already being treated at the institution as unionised staff announced a mobilisation.
One worker, Joaquín Caporale, said in a radio interview on Monday that some 30 to 40 patients are currently hospitalised at the site receiving psychological, psychiatric, social and occupational therapy.
He questioned the Milei administration’s cutbacks, accusing the President of “moving against health and education.”
“We didn’t expect this at all,” said Soledad Bordalecou, one of the healthcare professionals at the hospital. “Three months ago they fired 29 professionals, did not renew their contracts and now they tell us that the hospital will close in its entirety.”
The Hospital Nacional Laura Bonaparte specialises in mental health treatment. Its workers say that its closure would leave “thousands of mental health patients without treatment, including children and teenagers.”
Several politicians voiced concerns over the potential closure of the hospital.
Senator Martín Lousteau, president of the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR), said in a post on social media that the patients at the hospital “are not mere objects to be referred on in a ‘restructuring plan.’”
Highlighting the institution’s century-long history, he said nothing would justify its “abrupt closure.”
“Each and every one” of the patients at the mental health institution “is going through complex situations and part of their recovery is based on the stability and integral work of the team supporting them at the hospital,” he added.
– TIMES/PERFIL/NA
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