Argentina: Milei government closes hospital dedicated to mental health

Buenos Aires. The decision of the Ministry of Health of the far-right government of Javier Milei, to close the National Mental Health Hospital “Licenciada Laura Bonaparte” began by eliminating the guards and the hospitalization of patients, which shocked professionals, the population and the other hospitals that are under threat; The fact coincides with a long and severe public letter that Amnesty International (AI) sent to the president, with strong claims.

In the letter to Milei, AI maintains that “we are alarmed by the increase in poverty, that human rights are attacked” and also calls on the president for leading “a violent and intolerant confrontation, typical of authoritarian practices.” It also warns about the use of hate speech, and the danger that measures are taken in the name of security that endanger the population

Meanwhile, mental health professionals repudiated the government’s decision and began a protest around the building, remaining vigil all night; They stayed in the place where there are a number of hospitalized patients, who do not have a similar place to which they can be transferred.

It is worth remembering that the hospital is named after Laura Bonaparte, a renowned deceased psychologist, whose husband Santiago Bruschstein was kidnapped from his home in 1976 under the dictatorship, having a heart condition, and died in the hands of criminals; Then his children were also kidnapped, Noni (end of 1975), Irene and Víctor (in 1977), all disappeared. Only Laura and her youngest son Luis Bruschstein survived, both exiled in Mexico.

Bonaparte worked, together with an important group of psychologists in an open-door Mental Health Service in the municipality of Lanús in the Province of Buenos Aires, in a popular neighborhood, directed by the psychiatrist Mauricio Goldemberg, an experience that revolutionized the system, recognized worldwide. She was also an Amnesty observer in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, in the early days of the Sandinista revolution.

It is necessary to know what is also behind this decision, said the journalist, columnist and writer Luis Bruschtein, in communication with La Jornada, “it is a message not only in the field of health in general, but also political – very evident – in the issue of human rights.” Laura was a member of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo.

Added to this is that the hospital building is historic and dates back to 1889, since then it has housed different institutions. In 2012, by Resolution of the Ministry of Health, he was assigned to a new mission within the framework of the National Health Law “with the objective of ensuring the right to the protection of mental health and the full enjoyment of human rights of the people with mental illness who are in the national territory.” In mid-2016, the name of the institution was changed and it was renamed: “Licenciada Laura Bonaparte” National Network Hospital Specialized in Mental Health and Addictions.

“It is a definition of the policy of destruction, not only of historical memory, but of public health, which, like education, the government tries to annul. If it is allowed to advance, it will go to all the public health hospitals,” say the Bonaparte workers, who are going to remain in the hospital and denied the information from the health authorities that there were not enough patients” when throughout this year “More than 25 thousand people were served.”

Likewise, they denounced that the closure of the hospital would leave “thousands of mental health patients without treatment, including girls, boys and adolescents (…) they cannot lie to us, it is not about numbers. “This hospital provides an essential service to the entire community” and even more so in this time of crisis.

They also announced that they will remain peacefully “in the facilities and we do not rule out that in the next few hours the actions will increase,” said a State Workers union leader, pointing out that there are almost 700 jobs. And they also warned “that they are not going to accept any type of criminalization and judicialization of the protest because we are exercising our legitimate right to work.”

On the other hand, the new Minister of Health, Mario Lugones, also requested the resignation of the Board of Directors of the Garrahan Hospital because, given the government’s indifference to increasing salaries, which are below the minimum necessary, to save the situation they decided to grant a bonus. of 500 thousand pesos to the doctors. Garrahan is the only children’s hospital that performs transplants and treats diseases that cannot be treated elsewhere; it is recognized throughout the region for its high level of complexity.

The staff is highly specialized and “it is a crime to leave this hospital adrift after so many sacrifices and so many lives saved,” the workers denounced; They maintain that “while freedom is increasingly restricted, the threat of closure of public hospitals is a “cruelty that identifies the current government.” They also stated that the government measures are “designed to destroy and hand over the country.”