Today we got to back to Austral, however this time we got to see their campus that is in the city. We had a very nice 10 minute walk over to the building. I absolutely love walking around Buenos Aires- it is such a lively city. The building we were in was beautiful as well. We got to listen to three very interesting lectures today.

The first lecture was from the medical director of OMINT, a private insurance company in Argentina. I learned about the four different types of Health Care in Argentina: commercial, union, mutual benefit, and NGOs. Also, they touched briefly upon the state regulatory framework, which I found intriguing because I like learning about different laws since I am political science minor. The discussed three laws: Base laws for PMOs, Complement Laws for social coverage, and disability laws.

The second lecture featured AMIENA which provides health care and educational support to an indigineous area between Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay as it is very hard for the public system to reach them. By far, this was my favorite lecture of the day. I was very touched to hear about the stories of patients whose lived got changed due to the surgeries AMIENA provided, like cleft palates, and spinal surgeries.

We then had a lunch break, where we went to the cutest café. After lunch, we had the opportunity to shop around the area before heading back to Austral. Buenos Aires has so many little boutiques and stores.

We ended our day at Austral with a presentation about their Covid Hospital that they put together in two months during 2020. This was so inspiring to hear about, as the two presenters played an integral part in the hospital’s development. We got to work in groups to discuss how we would fund this hospital and organize it, given the same limited resources Austral had.

A common discussion point we dwelt upon today was the differences between prepargas and obras sociale. Prepargas are private insurance (like the first presentation) while obras sociale are unions.

Today was overall a very special day, as it was Zoe’s birthday!! We all ended the night with dinner together at an Argentinian Grill. Happy birthday Zoe!!!