Today marks our last day of hospital visits!! I can’t believe our trip is so close to being over. It has been so much fun and has gone by so fast. To start off the day, we went to the University of Austral for a lecture from Dr. Medrano about the Ministry of Health. She was one of the past Ministers of Health for her province, Salta. She discussed her experience leading her province and the challenges that arose with the COVID pandemic, which began just three months after she took office. I really enjoyed her talk and hearing her perspective on the healthcare system. Following this, we went to Fernández Public Hospital for a tour and to hear from the director, Dr. Previgliano. This is one of the nicer public hospitals we have seen, and he also shared his insights on how he kept the hospital going during the pandemic. Fernández Hospital actually became a center focused on COVID due to their successful approach to treating patients with a noninvasive ventilation area, which helped prevent patients from needing to be transferred to the ICU. A challenge that this hospital faces is that it has too many administrators, which can be a waste of funding. Our last stop of the day was one of Swiss Medical’s hospitals, Sanatorio Los Arcos. Swiss Medical is a private insurance company that also owns its own facilities and is known for its high-quality healthcare. The facility was very nice, and their patient rooms looked like a nice hotel room. An example of their quality care is that, for the past 70 days, they haven’t had to intubate a patient in their ICU. This was a very nice hospital to end on, and if I were sick, I would be happy to be treated there. We got back with plenty of time to explore the city, and some of the girls went to Florida Avenue to shop some more. I got this amazing ice cream from Lucciano’s and would highly recommend it. To end off our day, we went to a cute dinner together.
As we have been studying Argentina’s healthcare system, we have also been comparing it to our system in the United States. Some similarities that I have found are that in both countries, poorer individuals have worse health outcomes. This is because they have less preventative care to keep them from getting sick in the first place, and once they do become sick, they lack the funds for the best treatment. I’ve also noticed that both countries have issues with making healthcare available to rural areas. This is because cities attract more patients and typically have more profitable hospitals offering higher-paying jobs. The last similarity I noticed is that both systems have public and private sectors, even though they are very different in structure. The difference in structure is that the United States’ public system is only for those who are very poor or very old, whereas in Argentina, anyone can use the public system. This is because, in Argentina, healthcare is a right, so care cannot be denied regardless of a person’s ability to pay. Another difference is that Argentina has the Obras Sociales, which are a middleman to healthcare that the United States doesn’t have. They are dwindling with Milei’s new policies, but they are still a major difference.
Almost done—see you tomorrow!!