For dia dos of our trip, we visited one of Buenos Aires’ best private hospitals, Santorio De los Arcos. This healthcare facility is owned by a big private insurance company called Swiss Medical Group. It provides private health insurance to citizens who either pay a premium at their own expense or partially through a union. Kind of like UPMC in Pittsburgh, this insurance company owns a few hospitals as well as being a provider. While there, we heard lectures from Dr. Gabriel Novick of the facility, former deputy of the National Ministry of Health- Dr. Luis Gimenez, and the facility’s medical director- Dr. Luis Lantos.
As we walked into Santorio, my eyes were wide. This facility was well-structured, welcoming, and cozy. To begin Dr. Novick introduced Swiss Medical along with some info regarding private insurances along with the other sectors. The best way he described Argentina’s healthcare system is by referencing Mary Shelley’s phenomenal novel- Frankenstein. Healthcare is set up between four different sectors for citizens to fall under. You have the public funded through taxes, the Obras Sociales which is best referred to as Social Security, the Craft Union which pays the premium so members can receive care, and lastly the private as mentioned above. As you can see, this way of operating is very complex and fragmented, having many “moving parts” if you will, similar to our beloved Frankenstein. We know this creature is formed by having separated pieces together within the whole to create an entity which is exactly how the four sectors of Argentina’s healthcare function.
After some tasty glazed croissants, Dr. Lantos gave us a tour of Santorio where we were allowed to see various departments of the facility. This included viewings of their MRI laboratory, emergency center, equipment and supplies stocking, infection control, children’s playground, and so much more. We got to see how they make time-efficient through an organized system that eliminates the issue of being over or understocked. One aspect I found very interesting was how their rooms for patients are set in the style of hotel stays. Rooms were equipped with a quite larger bed than used to in the States, along with a couch, built-in-the-wall television, and a huge marbled/glass walk-in shower that I wish I had at home! They even have a separate, blocked-off area within the patient’s room to provide privacy when doctors are in while you have company. This idea is amazing and very accommodating to the family, patient, and even the doctor as well.
This first visit made me super excited to see the rest of these clinics. As a business major, I wasn’t sure how I’d directly engage with the healthcare topic, but once seeing the operations and being in the presence of true quality over quantity, for a second I considered switching my major! Only for a second though because as I learn more about the financing of the sectors, I hope to apply my new knowledge to future endeavors. To more Argentina.
