“The students, teachers and administrators of the Medicine career feel that the Faculty of Health Sciences and the UNSa itself turned their back on us. That is the feeling”, launched the director of the Medicine career, Alejandra Falú, following the rejection of the Superior Council of the National University of Salta to include the creation of the Faculty of Medicine in the agenda that is going to be discussed in the University Assembly, convened for next October 14.
Falú lamented: “Evidently our message was not understood and that is a pity. Because we proposed the creation of a Faculty of Medicine for the benefit of the entire UNSa and the entire province; and they did not understand it.” The request for independence of Medicine from the Faculty of Health was discussed in the session last Thursday, before a large group of teachers, non-teachers and students who came to the campus to support the initiative.
The hurt professional stated: “They didn’t even give us the opportunity to treat it, to discuss it, and that’s very sad. Because there is also an intermediate instance of creating a school, but they cut off all kinds of treatment. That is not understanding that the institutions are beyond proper names, that we have to have a vision above personal interests and that we must think regarding the future and the benefit of all”.
However, he thanked the rector Daniel Hoyos for his willingness to make the discussion available. “We appreciate that political gesture because it is a democratic gesture,” concluded Alejandra Falú. For his part, Hoyos himself expressed himself along the same lines: “We might not correctly explain the need felt by the Medicine community to have its own faculty.”
Although he said that there is still a chance until October that the members of the Superior Council reconsider the issue and propose it for the university assembly, which already generates many expectations. It happens that there have been no assemblies in the UNSa for more than 20 years, so it is a historic call that takes place within the framework of the fiftieth anniversary of the university.
The requests for the creation of the regional faculties of Orán and Tartagal did receive the approval of the Superior Council and will be dealt with by the assembly members in two and a half months.
Authorities, teachers and Medicine students issued a harsh statement, in which they repudiate the Superior Council’s decision, warning that this might have negative consequences. “The Council’s decision put the continuity of the career at risk, affecting more than 500 students and future entrants. Medicine is one of the careers with the highest demand in Salta. It does not have the adequate infrastructure for teaching classes, nor the resources that guarantee academic quality,” they said.
Job insecurity fueled the claim
The ordinary session of the Superior Council of the UNSa left many people “frustrated”. The decision to reject the treatment of creation of the Faculty of Medicine for the University Assembly causes discomfort among the teachers of the career. It might be the beginning of another path.
About, The Tribune spoke with Edgardo León de la Fuente, associate professor of the Biophysics chair, corresponding to the second year of the study plan. “Among the teachers, great expectations were raised because the creation of the Faculty would have underpinned the growth of the university and would also have contributed to many struggles that we have within the labor and academic sphere. However, today we feel frustrated because we cannot even give the discussion”, said the teaching doctor.
He stated that the main claim is job insecurity, since some teachers with 8 years are still hired. “There is no regularization of teaching positions and there are no competitions; This makes the working conditions of teachers and non-teachers destabilizing. So we are more than 70 workers”, said the professor.