Today was a very busy day with two site visits and three lectures. We began the day by going to Austral University, a familiar place by now, where we received a lecture by Josefina Medrono. Ms. Medrono served as the head of the Ministry of Health in the Salta Province of Argentina. She discussed the healthcare system in Salta which is one of the poorest provinces in Argentina. This was very interesting to hear because the last few days we only heard the perspective from Buenos Aires and a large union which are both wealthy. One of the largest challenges with Salta’s healthcare is the accessibility for the residents because of a lack of resources and distance from Buenos Aires. Ms. Medrono said that there are many “puestas fijas” which are posts in the province of Salta that serve as primary care facilities when residents need care. A doctor travels from Buenos Aires to a post to serve the province of Salta because there are not many primary care centers open full time.
After our first lecture, we went to Hospital Juan A. Fernandez which was a public hospital in Palermo. At the hospital we received a lecture by Ignacio Preveigliano, former director of the hospital, and he discussed the history of the hospital along with current trends and challenges in the public healthcare sector. After the lecture we toured the hospital which was different than anything I experienced before. We were able to walk through every department of the hospital where we saw departments like the critical care unit and emergency room. It was a very unique culture experience because hospitals in the US would never let a large group tour through every part of the hospital like that. The hospital is one of the nicest public hospitals in Buenos Aires because of its physicians, technology, and quality of care. However, while we walked through it, there were many aspects that seemed outdated and worn down because of the quantity of care in the hospital and amount of daily patients. In the emergency room, there were many beds that were unused and crammed together in a room which was unusual to see. However, this hospital is free to use for every citizen in Argentina and it is impressive to see the quality of care in that hospital.
For our last tour of the day we went to Swiss Medical Hospital in Palermo neighborhood too. Swiss Medical is the largest private healthcare provider in Argentina and there was a major difference between Hospital Juan A. Fernandez and Swiss Medical. While the public hospital’s quality of care is high, the facilities at Swiss Medical were extremely nice. Each admitted patient receives a suite style room with room for their family to stay overnight. The hallways were not crowded like the public hospital and it was more similar to an American style hospital with limited access for us to tour. At Swiss Medical we received a lecture from Jorge Lantos, the director of the hospital. He talked to us about budgeting issues which are very prevalent because the private sector is struggling in Argentina right now. He also discussed the challenges COVID presented which was interesting to hear from another country’s perspective. There was a clear difference between the quality of facilities in a public and private hospital and that was very clear throughout our tours today.
