Cardiologists Sound the Alarm: The Health Crisis and the Urgent Need for Better Working Conditions

2023-11-01 22:32:00
Cardiologists warn regarding the health crisis and demand better working conditions

Representatives of six cardiology medical societies that were part of yesterday’s meeting with national government officials to seek solutions to the lack of supplies that affect clinical practice, today described the meeting as “productive.” However, doctors also expressed to Executive officials their concern regarding other critical issues, such as low fees, the consequent drain of talent, and the deterioration in the quality of health services, both public and private. ‘Medical work was always the adjustment variable in this conflict of interests,’ they stated in a statement.”

Yesterday’s meeting was led by the Secretary of Commerce of the Nation, Matías Tombolini, together with authorities from the Ministry of Health, in addition to the entities of cardiologists providing health care and chambers of medical supplies suppliers. “There, a joint working group was established to establish priorities and direct different situations that affect the sector,” indicated the cardiology scientific societies in a statement issued today.

These shortages became a serious problem several weeks ago that is affecting various specialties. Voices have been added in recent days to warn regarding the depth of the crisis that hospitals, clinics, sanatoriums and diagnostic and treatment centers are going through due to the shortage of basic materials for practices that range from the most complex to the most simple.

This serious situation is impacting the vast majority of health sectors, such as gastroenterology, dentistry, ophthalmology and even tomography and other diagnostic areas. Yes, it is true that the first blows were felt by cardiology, which today is one of the most affected, which is deepened taking into account the number of people who must undergo, for example, angioplasties and stent placement.

Lack of supplies, low fees and flight of talent: the critical panorama of cardiology in Argentina (Getty)

The entities representing the cardiologists who were part of yesterday’s call at the Ministry of Commerce were the Argentine Society of Cardiology (SAC); the Argentine Federation of Cardiology (FAC), the Argentine Cardiological Foundation (FCA), the Argentine College of Interventional Cardioangiologists (CACI), the Argentine College of Cardiovascular Surgeons (CACCV) and the Argentine College of Cardiology (CAC). These are the same ones who on October 27 signed a harsh document warning regarding the lack of medical supplies due to the difficulties that exist for importation.

After this Tuesday’s meeting, Dr. Pablo Stutzbach, 1st Vice President of the SAC, told Infobae that it was a “very good” meeting and it was a “first step to identify the problems and listen to the different parts” of the system. sanitary.

But this morning, the six cardiological entities together, with the signature of their presidents, issued a new statement to report details of the meeting. After “expressing their gratitude for the quick response received” by the Ministry of Commerce, “which was receptive to finding ways to begin to resolve the issue of the lack of supplies in cardiology,” they reiterated, as they said “in the previous communication , the shortage of supplies affects the performance of interventions, both diagnostic and procedural, and originates largely from the financial difficulties that impact imports, as well as from the unjustified increase in the price of vital medical supplies carried out by some suppliers.”

They estimated that, following that meeting, which was “productive,” they await “the implementation of consensual measures to gradually solve the gaps.” The cardiologists “took the opportunity to express to the authorities the sector’s concern regarding the current situation that is being experienced in clinical practice, since the supplies represent only one of the aspects of the tremendous crisis that medical care is experiencing in the Argentina”.

Six scientific cardiology societies demand that the government urgently rethink the health system (Gettyimages)

“Among other critical issues, the issue of medical fees was addressed, mostly relegated due to the increase in the costs of supplies and diagnostic studies, fees that are at their lowest historical levels in memory, which which largely corresponds to the fact that medical work was always the adjustment variable in this conflict of interests,” they lamented.

The demand of cardiologists, which in this way was extended to all specialties, is that the authorities produce an “urgent rethinking by regulatory bodies, both public and private, in order to avoid the flight of talents abroad and to improve “the quality of service to patients, who are the main victims of the critical situation that our country’s health system is going through.”

Yesterday the vice president of the SAC had told Infobae: “All parties were heard, we obviously have nothing to do with the system of provision of these supplies, we are the ones who use them and we need to bring them to be able to care for patients as they deserve and, according to written evidence, the best way to treat, for example, a heart attack and some other diseases. “It is key to have these devices, these elements for diagnosis and all the drugs we use to treat these diseases,”

In their first statement, which triggered the government call, the cardiologists described the serious situation generated by the lack of supplies: “It is noteworthy that this situation, today, not only affects the performance of scheduled interventions, but also emergency ones. such as primary angioplasties in the treatment of myocardial infarction or neurointerventionism in the management of cerebrovascular accidents, whose inadequate or impossible performance will determine an immediate increase in mortality and/or disability.”

Cardiology, a specialty at risk due to the shortage of materials and the deterioration of the quality of service

Dr. Stutzbach highlighted that “obviously the solution will take time, it has multiple aspects because it is a marketing chain with foreign countries, but the good thing was that essential products might be identified that cannot be missing for the practice of cardiology and emergencies. cardiovascular”.

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