Day 5 in Buenos Aires! Today we started the day a little differently, with a tango lesson at the IES headquarters. It was so much fun and very cool for the professional dancers to show us their routine, and then teach us how to do some of the steps. We then went to Paroissien Hospital and the UNLaM facilities, where we learned about how the hospital was run and took a tour through the whole hospital. This is a public provincial hospital, which means it is under the direct funding of the provincial government (province=state). This hospital is located in a low-income neighborhood with high crime rates. All of the staff were very committed and passionate about their work, despite the low funding and reduced resources. This hospital had many community programs that were very impressive; including education programs, free medicine, and many outreach efforts. After the hospital, we had a lecture in the National University of La Matanza. This university is public, which means it is welcome to all with free tuition. Many students that attend this university are first generation students. The student nurses from the university then did a demonstration of CPR in a simulation, which was very cool to see.
Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government with a regional level of sub-unit governments, while dividing the powers of governing between the two levels of governments. Federalism in Argentina significantly affects healthcare delivery by creating a decentralized system where responsibility is divided between the national, provincial, and municipal governments. This structure leads to unequal access, funding, and resources. We saw this directly with the hospitals that we have visited so far in Argentina. On Tuesday, we visited Hospital de San Isidro, which is a public hospital in a wealthier neighborhood. It is directly funded by the municipality, rather than the province like Paroissien Hospital. Residents in San Isidro have more formal jobs, so the municipality has more money from taxes to fund the hospital system. On the other hand, more residents near Paroissien have informal jobs, where they do not pay taxes to the local government. Thus, less money is given to the hospital and the province does not help to cover more than what they already funded. With more funding, the hospital has better resources, such as newer technology, infrastructure, and equipment. Additionally, the population coverage is much larger at Paroissien Hospital than San Isidro, so they have many more patients to help.
