After the Ministry of Health announce the closure of Hospital Laura Bonapartespecialized in the treatment of mental health, the workers of the institution initiated a claim in the surroundings of the building. Although the protest began in the afternoon, it continued throughout the early morning with a vigil. “A group of us spent the night here. We are going to be there as long as we have to be,” they warned in statements to Infobae.
According to the workers, ““The numbers that circulate about care are wrong.” “Only the 0800 line of psychologists that answers calls from all over the country, in September answered more than 1,800. We have guard 24 hours a day, 365 days and mental health care for children and adolescents, in a context in which suicides in that population are on the rise,” he noted. Leonardo Fernandez Camachogeneral delegate of ATE.
Meanwhile, Soledad Bordalecouone of the professionals at the medical center, indicated that they were informed of the closure of the guard and the hospitalizations during a hearing held at 2 p.m. on Friday. “We weren’t expecting it at all,” he confessed, recalling that they had already gone through a significant reduction in staff over the past few months.
“Three months ago they fired 29 professionals, their contracts were not renewed and now they are telling us that the hospital is going to close completely,” said the worker.
As a result of this situation, the workers organized to protest and called on society to join the demonstration through a statement on social networks. “Hospital workers in a general assembly decided to remain at their jobs and they call on all citizens, users, family members, professionals, civil associations, unions, neighborhood assemblies and the entire community to join in the fight and defense of the hospital and public health,” they stated, indicating that the meeting point will be in Combate. of the Wells and Caseros.
Hours after the demonstration began, the national Ministry of Health published a statement to explain that the closure of the hospital would be part of a restructuring plan. “The decision responds to the objective of prioritizing the allocation of resources to patients who need them,” they highlighted, adding that the ministry would be in charge of referring hospitalized patients to other institutions.
“We are working on the normalization of the Hospital as a result of underutilization based on its capacity, which is manifested in the reduced number of patients treated at the institution,” they noted, referring to the fact that some 17 billion pesos are delivered annually for the operation of the services it offers. However, the authorities stressed that the Bonaparte “has a very low occupancy.”
In this sense, the ministry reported that the public health center has an annual average of 19 hospitalizations daily. “The indicators of the amount of care and consultations are very low compared to what is expected from a hospital with general services,” they evaluated, emphasizing the building dimensions and the amount of human resources used.
“The Ministry of Health guarantees the continuity of treatment for hospitalized patients,” the statement concluded. However, the Bonaparte workers contrasted the information provided by the health authorities by ensuring that more than 25 thousand patients were treated throughout this year. Likewise, they denounced that the closure of the hospital would leave “thousands of mental health patients, including girls, boys and adolescents, without treatment.”
On the other hand, the Peronist leader Juan Grabois He was present at the scene to support the mental health professionals and assured that “more than 700 people who come on duty are treated here every day.” He even pointed out that the information provided by the Government would be false, because the hospitalization capacity would currently be full.
“At this time when there is a mental health and addiction pandemic, closing the national reference hospital is cruelty that has no name”the lawyer stated during a conversation with the news of Chronicle TV. In the same way that he explained that the health workers refused to leave the place and leave the patients adrift, he advanced the possibility of a march taking place next Thursday, which coincides with mental health day.
Although the measure was not confirmed, the State Workers Association (ATE) He announced that the possibility of deepening the force measures would be evaluated. “The only thing they did up to this point was dismantle programs. We are not going to allow a hospital like Bonaparte to close, which is a reference and model in mental health throughout the country,” denounced the general secretary of ATE, Rodolfo Aguiarthrough a statement published by the union.
“They can’t lie to us, it’s not about numbers. This hospital provides an essential service to the entire community. We have decided to remain peacefully in the facilities and we do not rule out that in the next few hours the actions will increase,” the union leader reaffirmed, pointing out that almost 700 jobs are at stake. Finally, they anticipated that they will not accept “any type of criminalization and judicialization of the protest,” and concluded: “We are exercising our legitimate right to work.”