¡Hola mis amigos! We started day four off today by heading over to the Universidad de Austral to speak with Dra. Josefina Medrano, who was the past Minister of Health Province of Salta. Salta is a province just north of Buenos Aires. Dra. Medrano was elected Minister in 2019 and faced the challenges of being minister during the time of the COVID pandemic. Dra. Medrano mentioned to us that about only ⅕ of the population in Salta uses the public hospital system. This is mainly due to the infrastructure issues causing challenges in accessing healthcare easily. Today was a super exciting day for the Pitt nursing majors on our trip since today was the first day of being able to visit some Argentinian hospitals. We were able to visit both examples of a public and a private hospital. The public hospital, Juan A. Fernandez Hospital hosted us first. While here, it was a bit uncomfortable to walk through and see patients in each area firsthand. Although I am in nursing, it felt really odd to see these individuals and families in such vulnerable conditions as we toured the building. Other than this factor, Dr. Ignacio Previgliano provided us with a great presentation and tour of his hospital and all the additions he has added on. Although the building was not as updated, it still was a well-functioning facility. Next, we toured the private hospital, Los Archos. This hospital is the main hospital owned by Swiss Medical in Buenos Aires. Immediately we were presented with a completely different type of complex. Dr. Jorge Lantos, the former Head of Insurance for Swiss Medical, provided us with a tour and information session. The major thing that compared with the tours was that we were able to tour the entire public hospital while the private hospital was more restricted. The private hospital immediately gave the impression as if I were staying the night in a five-star hotel accompanied with a living room, two couches, private bathroom, and room service. It was very intriguing to see what the difference between both were represented so heavily. Can’t wait to visit more as the days come!
