Workers of a Buenos Aires mental health hospital are protesting the termination of its emergency care and hospitalization services. Doctors, nurses, and staff have been camped outside the Laura Bonaparte, the only national state-owned mental health medical center, since the country’s Health Ministry announced the decision on Friday.
State-workers union ATE is claiming that the measure is laying the groundwork for the total closure of the hospital on Monday. A union communiqué stated that 612 jobs are at risk as a result of the decision and that the hospital has treated 25,000 people so far this year.
A spokesperson for the ministry run by Mario Lugones denied that they intended to close the facility and told the Herald that it was “restructuring” the medical center. A communiqué by the ministry argued that the decision was made because the Laura Bonaparte’s facilities are underused, as it hospitalizes only 19 patients a day. A person close to the matter added that 30 patients currently hospitalized in the center are set to be transferred to other institutions, but workers at the hospital said they haven’t seen any preparations for that.
Even if the government does not close the facility, Friday’s decision will downside the hospital. “The services that have already been terminated mean that around 200 people will be fired,” emergency care nurse Gisele Yodato told the Herald.
Nurse Yodato also disputed that their labor could be measured merely by the “numbers” the government is using. “The work we do here is according to the needs of each person. We work in a ward with social workers, nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, and occupational therapists. We interview the families, we give medication, we do different therapies.” she said.
“But even if it were measured in numbers, we treat many more people than what they say. Their claim is absolutely outlandish and violent,” she explained, adding that the government has also closed down the “spontaneous demand” center, which treats people that arrive without a previous appointment, even in situations that are not emergencies.
Hundreds of people were protesting in front of the building on Saturday. A banner reading “popular mental health is social justice” could be seen hanging from one of the building’s balconies. Other signs reading “Don’t abandon our patients,” “I am alive thanks to the professionals of the Bonaparte Hospital” and “The Bonaparte is not the caste!” were plastered over the hospital’s columns.
Stephanie Huge, a psychologist specializing in addiction treatment and mental health who works at the hospital, laid out the work the center does. “We have a hotline that provides nationwide guidance and emergency care. We have 12-hour shifts where we receive calls from any part of the country — we attend approximately 1800 consultations per month,”, she told the Herald.
The hospital has outpatient clinics and a kindergarten. It is also a school hospital with an interdisciplinary residency where about 20 residents are trained every year.
Huge said that the news caused “total anguish” in the workers. The distress is not only because their jobs are at stake but also because the hospital is a “leader in the country in implementing the mental health law.”
The measure came days after the Health Ministry took action another public hospital. On October 2, the ministry requested that the board of directors of the Garrahan child hospital in Buenos Aires resign after said board gave a AR$500,000 bonus to its doctors. Hospital workers announced a 48-hour strike.
“I am not surprised that this is happening in the context of a government that has been applying measures of this nature. Temporary contracts in the hospital have been renewed every three months since the beginning of this government’s term,” Huge told the Herald. She added that salaries have risen between “1 and 2%” a month since President Javier Milei took office. In August, prices on average rose by 4.2%.
Although workers remain protesting in front of the Laura Bonaparte building, the services are still working. Music bands are playing while the doctors are giving open classes and doing a dengue prevention campaign.
Yodato thanked the people who showed up in the demonstration. “Those of us who are here understand that this is something very serious. On the other hand, we think that they can start doing this with other hospitals. And then what is left? If they close hospitals, what’s next?”