Just one day after being sworn in as Mario Russo’s replacement, the brand-new Health Minister Mario Lugones hit the ground running Wednesday by requesting the resignation of the entire administrative board of the prestigious Garrahan Children’s Hospital.
Lugones identified the granting of a pay bonus of half a million pesos as the cause, saying the benefit was out of line with the policies of fiscal balance introduced by the Javier Milei government.
Health Ministry sources said “the council defined this measure without previous consultation or evaluation” and without the authorisation of the new minister.
According to the sources, members of the Administrative Council also picked up the bonus, taking their earnings up to a monthly 5.5 million pesos – a number far removed from the pay of most professionals at the respected paediatric hospital located in the Parque Patricios neighbourhood.
On that same Wednesday, the workers at the health centre were on strike, only maintaining an emergency service, while at the same time joining the second federal universitary march.
Norma Lezana, the secretary-general of the APyT (Asociación de Profesionales y Técnicos) trade union, underlined that the half-million bonus at the Garrahan Hospital (including residents and students on scholarships) had been obtained thanks to their battle plan.
"Now we need that sum to be incorporated into the basic salary for true wage recovery," she pointed out.
The Garrahan’s Administrative Council is headed by surgeon Oscar Imventarza. It also includes paediatricians Patricia Elmeaudy and Oscar Pérez (also a legal expert), Dr Andrés Scarsi (the former director-general of City Health Planning) and Silvia Prieri, a specialist in the planning and design of social policies.
Lugones, who enjoys the confidence of presidential spin doctor Santiago Caputo, believes health management should commit itself to administering public accounts and funds responsibly with the aim of improving the quality of services while complying with the objective of zero deficit established by Milei.
Lugones has made his first move hard and fast, less than a week after Russo announced his departure on September 26.
The minister’s appointment basically served to make reality official. The former Sanatorio Güemes hospital chief was already pulling all the strings in the portfolio, according to reports, exhausting the patience of Russo, who alleged “personal issues” on presenting his resignation.
Lugones was sworn in as minister in the Salón Blanco last Monday with most of his future Cabinet colleagues as onlookers but most especially his political mentor, spin doctor Caputo.
A communiqué of the Presidential Office flagged the brand-new minister as having "extensive experience in the health area, having been in charge of the Sanatorio Güemes with a focus on teaching medicine and clinical research," also highlighting that throughout his career he was "a cardiologist at Praxis Médica, Fundación Favaloro and Sanatorio Malvinas, among other places " while also working at the UBA University of Buenos Aires as "the director of IMSSET (Instituto Médico de la Seguridad Social y Evaluación Tecnológica) of its Medical Faculty and of its Health Systems Management masters degree.”
– TIMES/PERFIL
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