The health crisis in the province of Buenos Aires added a new chapter in Bahía Blanca. The head of surgery at the Interzonal Penna Hospital, Luciano Mutti, resigned from his position and denounced that the lack of anesthesiologists prevents meeting surgical demand, with very serious consequences for patients, who see essential surgeries delayed and, in many cases, suffer irreversible sequelae or even die while waiting to be operated on.
Mutti directly blamed the management of Jorge Moyano, the hospital director, for not demanding that the Buenos Aires Ministry of Health open more anesthesiology positions. Currently, the hospital has two anesthesiologists and one on call, an unsustainable situation that leaves hundreds of people without access to vital surgeries, deepening the crisis of the public health system in Bahía Blanca and the region.
The government of Axel Kicillof in the province of Buenos Aires, far from being an exception to Milei’s national austerity, applies its own cuts to public health. The situation of Buenos Aires hospitals is critical: they are sustained by thousands of scholarship workers, with precarious contracts since the pandemic, without seniority or year-end bonus, and with salaries that are not enough to make ends meet. The lack of budget and precarious working conditions affect both professionals and patients, who must endure collapsed emergency rooms and a lack of basic supplies.
In this scenario, the hospital management —in the hands of sectors allied with the provincial government— not only does not confront the cuts but also guarantees the policy of precariousness and emptying. The resignation of the surgery chief is a concrete denunciation of this complicity: while they talk big about defending public health, mainly the union leaderships that are fully integrated into Governor Kicillof’s Movement for the Right to the Future and who have been agreeing to low wages, while they do not call for any serious struggle plan in the face of the ongoing crisis. They are the ones who in practice let the cuts pass and neglect the needs of the majority.
Just a month ago, the same sectors that today allow the emptying of the hospital participated in the so-called «Federal March for Public Health.» Although the mobilization raised correct slogans, it was called mainly by union leaderships and groups fully integrated into Kicillof’s government, who agree to low wages and do not promote any serious struggle plan in the face of the crisis. This «defense» of public health ends up being functional to official policy, while the reality in hospitals continues to worsen and workers become increasingly unprotected.
From leftist and combative sectors, we march in a pole independent of the bureaucracy and the governors who want to push through the cuts under the slogan «Neither with Milei nor with the governors.»
The health crisis is not resolved with speeches or staged marches. The experience of the workers at Garrahan Hospital, who won a 61% increase after months of struggle, shows that only organization from below, with assemblies, strikes, and unity with other sectors in struggle, can bend the arm of austerity. It is necessary to promote self-organization in each hospital, demand the permanent hiring of all precarious workers, the opening of positions and real budget for public health, and an emergency salary recomposition.
Faced with the complicity of the leaderships and governments, the only way out is the construction of a pole independent of the employer parties and union bureaucracies, which establishes a true defense of public health at the service of the majority and not the business of a few.
In this context of health crisis and austerity, we invite all workers, students, users, and popular sectors to join the independent committees we are promoting throughout the country, including Bahía Blanca, where more than 120 workers are already joining to organize to defend public health and confront the emptying of hospitals. These committees are open and democratic spaces, promoted by leaders such as Myriam Bregman, Nicolás del Caño, and Christian Castillo, together with health workers, teachers, students, artists, and feminist activists, with the aim of building a political and struggle alternative to the complicity of employer parties and union bureaucracies.
Join the committees. It is time to organize from below, independently of governments and bureaucracies, to establish a true defense of health and all our rights. Don’t stay out, you are needed to change everything!
para mi esto es lo q pasa cuando gobiernan zurdos inutiles como moyano el hospital se cae a pedazos y los pacientes se mueren esperando falta anestesistas q paguen mejor manga de amargos vuelvan los militares ya
Para mí este Moyano es un desastre total, la salud pública se cae a pedazos y los únicos que la sufrimos somos los laburantes. Falta anestesistas? Y la joda de los políticos? Se llenan la boca con gestión y no ponen un peso. Vergüenza total, estos tipos no tienen límites. Basta de recortes, che!