The city government is evaluating that the province of Buenos Aires assume the cost of care for its residents in the hospitals of the Capital in the face of the great demand from Buenos Aires residents, although there is still no project of how it could materialize or what types of services it would refer to. While the Buenos Aires Executive indicated to this medium that “there is a firm decision to work on this issue,” the local Ministry of Health insisted on bringing peace of mind to the population that consults daily in the public system.
In dialogue with radio media, the head of government Jorge Macri He had referred earlier to the possibility of recovering the funds destined for these benefits. There are districts that expect in the coming months that more of the population will turn to public health due to the increase in coverage fees, co-payments and non-refundable bonuses that professionals are charging, and out-of-pocket expenses for medications.
“What is happening is something historic, but it is reaching its highest peak of complexity,” said Macri regarding the exodus of Buenos Aires residents to the hospitals in the city. “The level of mismanagement and disinvestment in public health at the provincial level is serious. Most of the municipalities from where they say they come [los pacientes que llegan a atenderse desde la provincia de Buenos Aires] They do not have municipal healthcare –he continued–. We make a great effort, but it has a limit. Our responsibility is to try to prioritize the neighbor who supports the public system.”
“If we do the math, most of the taxes of the city of Buenos Aires are the product of the work of the Buenos Aires residents who go there. But how stupid the reasoning is,” the governor retorted. Axel Kicillof about the sayings of his Buenos Aires counterpart.
The idea that the Province or the Buenos Aires municipalities assume the cost of the use of services that their residents make in the city had already generated debate in 2022 following a bill introduced in the Buenos Aires Legislature. The initiative did not prosper. Now, it has re-emerged in the face of greater demand from Buenos Aires residents who claim that they do not have care closer to where they live.
“The concept of community is broad, but we need the Province to assume its responsibility and provide health in its place of origin. Our commitment to universal and free health care is full, but we are going to demand the same attitude from other leaders,” the Buenos Aires mayor added to the media.
The Buenos Aires Minister of Health, Fernán Quirós, explained to LA NACIÓN that the city has a recovery system in the case of care for patients with coverage. “The discussion about the suburbs is among the problems of the world’s megacities and requires agreeing on all public policies, such as health, education, security, waste disposal or transportation,” he added. But he separated it from the need for care that patients seek daily in the health system.
Goals
Also, the prioritization of the attention of the people of Buenos Aires had already been anticipated after confirming, last November, that Quiros He would continue to lead the city’s Ministry of Health after the change of local authorities. One of the objectives set for the new stage was modify how the population uses the health system: decompress demand in hospitals through better use of health and community action centers (Cesac) or outpatient medical specialty centers (Cemar), where diagnostic studies are carried out or services of medium complexity are provided by referral from the a Cesac doctor without having to go to a hospital.
Another objective was address the complaints of Buenos Aires residents who cannot find appointments or have to wait weeks or months to be attended to in public centers. According to data from the city’s General Directorate of Statistics and Censuses, 20% of Buenos Aires residents depend only on the public care network if they have a health problem.
But, by neighborhood, this proportion rises to 25% in Commune 3 (Balvanera and San Cristóbal), 26.7% in Commune 9 (Mataderos, Liniers and Parque Avellaneda), 28.1% in Commune 7 ( Flores and Parque Chacabuco) and until reaching 40% in Commune 4 (La Boca, Barracas, Parque Patricios and Nueva Pompeya), 33.5% in Commune 1 (Retiro, San Nicolás, Montserrat, Constitución, San Telmo, Puerto Madero) or 48.5% in Commune 8 (Villa Lugano, Villa Riachuelo and Villa Soldati). The hospitals in many of these neighborhoods are also the ones that concentrate the unmet demand of the suburbs.
On average, according to Quirós, 55% of hospital consultations are from Buenos Aires and 45% from Buenos Aires.. But, in Zubizarreta, for example, 90% who consult reside in the city, while in Argerich, Elizalde (pediatric) or Santojanni, 80% of the patients who arrive live in the province. “There are 850,000 Buenos Aires residents who regularly use the public system: 450,000 already have an assigned family or primary doctor who monitors and makes referrals. [al Cemar o a un hospital] when necessary –the official explained–. Of the other 400,000, half are affiliated with PAMI and have a family doctor. We need to ensure that the remaining 200,000 Buenos Aires residents of that population have a doctor assigned to coordinate their care.”