The workers of the Laura Bonaparte National Mental Health Hospital denounced this Friday that the The Government decided to close the hospitalization service of the health center, as well as the guard. So far this year, more than 25 thousand people have been treated at the site.
Sources of Ministry of Health informed Ámbito that they began the closure processclarifying that since the beginning of the management “We worked on the normalization of the Hospital as a result of underutilization based on its capacity.”
Under this line, they indicated that the institution receives a budget of $16.8 billion and has a very low occupancyof about 30 patients. In addition, they detailed that the rate of average hospitalized patients in the hospital is between 16 and 19, something that the ministry considers “very low than expected of a mental health hospital with general services, considering the building dimensions, and the amount of human resources assigned to care and administration.”
Another important focus in addition to layoffs is the situation of patients who are admitted to the hospitalsince they depend on the Government, and would be left without treatment. So far this year, they highlighted that “care has been provided to more than 25 thousand people in these last few months alone.”
However, from the Ministry of Health They clarified that hospitalized patients will not be affectedsince they will be referred to other institutions dependent on the organization, as well as outpatient clinics. These establishments will be within the radius of the community and the jurisdictions to which the patients belong.
The hospital director confirmed the news to the employees
The director of the health center, Christian Baldinowas in charge of communicating the news to the 612 workers who carry out their work there. Next Monday the official decree would come out with the announcement of the total closurewhich so far covers the total closure of the guard service and hospitalizations during the weekend.
“The news was communicated to us by the director of the hospital Christian Baldino this Friday and the truth is that it is a big problem for us workers and patients. Many’s contracts expired on October 1“he declared Victoria Argañarazoccupational therapist, former resident and hospital worker, in dialogue with C5N.
The hospital employees in a general assembly decided to remain in their jobs and They asked all citizens, users, family members, professionals, civil associations, unions, neighborhood assemblies and the entire community to join in the fight and defense of the hospital and public health.
The hospital is located in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Patricios Parkand until now provided assistance 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Both the on-call and Spontaneous Demand Services were open to the community.
Myriam Bregman joined the workers’ complaint
The former deputy spoke out on her social networks to make the claim visible of the workers at the Laura Bonaparte National Mental Health Hospital denounced: ”He ordered the total closure of the on-call service, abandoning mental health patients. The closure of these services is the previous step to the total closure of the hospital, leaving thousands of mental health patients without treatment, including girls, boys and adolescents.”
Source: Ambito
