With criticism of Axel Kicillof, a mayor withdrew IOMA from his city and discontent with the social work grows

The mayor of San Nicolás, Manuel Passaglia (PRO) with Governor Axel Kicillof and part of his cabinet

For some time now, the Instituto Obra Médico Asistencial (IOMA) has received frequent complaints from its affiliates in various towns and municipalities due to criticism of the care provided by the service. Tandil, Bahía Blanca, among other towns, are the main sources of discomfort. Now, in one of those cities in conflict, an opposition mayor decided directly to abandon the social work.

Manuel Passaglia (PRO), community chief of San Nicolás, presented a project in the Deliberative Council so that municipal employees can abandon that medical coverage and be empowered to acquire a new benefit. “Workers deserve to be able to see their preferred doctor and anywhere in the city; and doctors collect on time and form for these benefits. That doesn’t happen with IOMA”, justified the mayor.

With a fiery criticism of Axel Kicillof, Passaglia questioned the “deficient service” of health coverage, despite the recurring claims that were made. “We raised it many times and it is useless to keep waiting for Governor Kicillof to do something to improve it,” she evaluated.

IOMA is the social work to which millions of teachers, police officers, public employees, municipal workers and retirees from the province of Buenos Aires make mandatory contributions. The huge health provider, headed by the doctor Homero Giles, is a regular target of reproach from members and transcends the various political efforts that come to La Plata.

“We are tired of the IOMA disaster and Kicillof’s inaction,” Passaglia expressed from his social networks. “The PBA has as a health plan that the thousands of teachers, municipal officials, and city policemen fight to get a shift in a few clinics, without doing anything so that IOMA is accepted in any medical institute. It is a lack of respect for users and doctors, ”she added in that message.

According to the project presented in San Nicolás, the 750 workers who depend on the municipal administration will continue to have IOMA coverage during March, and only in April will they have a private social work that will be defined in the coming weeks. The intention is that municipal personnel have “broader medical coverage, more shifts and medical centers to attend and better care,” and at the same time, “health workers will collect their salaries in a timely manner,” they indicated. from the Nicolean commune.

IOMA President Homer Giles

Another PRO leader advanced in a similar decision. In Capitán Sarmiento, the opposition mayor Javier Iguacel enabled the possibility for municipal workers to have freedom of choice of what their health coverage will be. “We gave freedom to be in IOMA. Nine out of ten (municipal) changed because the service is lousy,” said the community chief, who also aspires to compete as a candidate for governor for the Juntos alliance.

In Tandil, where the radical mayor Miguel Ángel Lunghi governs, since January the affiliates have called for protests in front of the headquarters of the social work in demand for the normalization of benefits.

At the end of the year, the IOMA authorities terminated an agreement with the Círculo Médico de Tandil, which affected the supply of professionals available for care, and forced affiliates to travel to other cities to get an appointment. In February an agreement was reached with La Mutual 23 de Diciembre, an intermediary entity with the Círculo Médico, but the discontent persists.

The mayor of Capitán Sarmiento, Javier Iguacel, enabled the possibility of disaffiliating from IOMA and choosing another provider. In the photo, with former President Mauricio Macri

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“Three weeks ago the end of the conflict had been announced and an app was created for orders, studies and others. That app never worked. They give the option of sending emails but they do not give answers, only some orders arrive randomly,” said Martín Gastaldi, one of the affected beneficiaries and a member of the “self-convened” groups of affiliates. A month ago, several people belonging to that organization protested and carried banners with the inscription “IOMA Tandil Emergency” to a visit by Axel Kicillof to the city.

According to Gastaldi, the process for the bonuses required to attend medical consultations are not granted and, generally, the procedures are authorized late by the mutual. And this leads to administrative chaos, with long waiting lines, which adds to the confusion. “We have no option to change the social work, we are captives,” he lamented. In the district of Tandil there are more than 24 thousand members of IOMA.

In other locations, such as Bahía Blanca, the complaints pointed to “undue charges”, that is, any health benefit that implies additional spending for members. The irregular situation generated protest from organizations such as the Buenos Aires Judicial Association (AJB).

One of the IOMA headquarters, in La Plata

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