On Thursday, July 7, 2022, teacher from Salta Alejandro Benítez was riding through southern Bolivia on his motorcycle.
It wasn't the first time he had done it.
But yes the last one.
A truck hit him and he had serious injuries that
required urgent medical attention
.
He was dying lying on the pavement.
According to his son Agustín,
the personnel of the Bolivian security forces and doctors refused to treat him
because he did not have dollars or money from that country.
A few days later, former president Evo Morales came out to apologize
on behalf of all of Bolivia,
although he later minimized Benítez's death, claiming that he had been treated.
Benitez's case was the last straw that overflowed a glass full of complaints and claims from Argentines who had been
mistreated in Bolivia.
Not only in matters linked to medical care, but also in other aspects, such as, for example, that Bolivian service stations refuse to fill gasoline into cars with Argentine license plates.
Gustavo Saenz, governor of Salta, signed the decree to charge foreigners.
“Bolivia
is not complying with
the reciprocity agreement.
That agreement is valid, it is for five years.
One of the clauses establishes that for emergency issues - and defines among emergency issues when there is a life-threatening situation - they have to take charge and attend to it," the then governor of Jujuy Gerardo Morales had claimed, in July 2022.
Beyond all these complaints and claims, and despite the threats,
an Argentine province has never dared to implement a charging scheme for foreigners who receive care in national public hospitals.
In Salta they admit that the project to charge foreigners for care in public hospitals was not taken before due to the "alignment" of the government of Alberto Fernandez with the former president of Bolivia Evo Morales.
That seems to have changed: for the first time, a provincial government announced, by decree,
the tariff
of health care for foreigners who are in Argentina temporarily, on vacation, or who have a precarious residence, that is, they do not permanent.
Attention in cases of emergencies will be guaranteed and will not have to be paid for.
The governor of Salta, Gustavo Sáenz, determined that foreigners must contribute to covering the expenses generated by their health care in the provincial health centers, either by themselves or through health insurance.
“The measure seeks to guarantee the solvency of the Salta public health system,” indicated government spokespersons.
Although they have not yet officially recognized it, other provinces, especially those bordering them,
could take a measure similar
to the one Salta took.
In dialogue with
Clarín
, Adrián Cura, who until this Monday was the Secretary of Health of Salta, announced that the Government's decision is
to charge around $170,000 per day
to all foreigners who must be admitted to a provincial public hospital.
"Obviously, in the event of any risk to life, there will be no restrictions on care," he clarified.
The former official admitted that they had been planning to take a measure of this type for a long time, but that
they could not carry it out due to "the resistance" of the Government of Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner,
in obvious allusion to the alignment with Evo Morales.
The measure, which had been advanced by the provincial Minister of Health, Federico Mangione, was made official with the signing of the decree of necessity and urgency 129 by the governor of Salta, Gustavo Sáenz, and all the ministers of the local Executive.
"It is important to note that the economic crisis that the country is going through is not foreign to Salta, which has suffered a decrease in its treasury not only due to the cut in national transfers but also due to the decrease in revenue produced by the crisis itself. economic, so in such a scenario and in the face of the economic emergency declared both nationally and provincially, the existing high inflation rate that increases the cost of supplies, medicines and elements necessary to guarantee health care day by day, it is necessary to adopt measures to rationalize efficiently the resources available,” argued the Salta Government.