The death of Alejandro Benitezthe man from Salta who died following they will deny him health care in Bolivia, sparked controversy over the hospital link between the two countries. A similar case is that of Manuel Vilcaa man from Jujuy who was treated but was even charged for toilet paper.
Even, from this case, in 2019 Argentina and Bolivia signed an agreement of health care reciprocity for five years. Like Benítez, this case also arose from an accident on the routes of the neighboring country. I had traveled in December that year to Bolivia and suffered a traffic accident, reported the newspaper The Andes.
An Argentine died in Bolivia whom they refused to attend: “They let him die, they did nothing”
Vilca came to Bolivia to play with his music band “Group Ten Points” in a small town near the city of Cattail. His friends told how he was transferred to a Hospital in Oruro where they were asked $1,300 for the different titanium plates that were needed and the labor.
They even wouldn’t let him go until he paid that sum of money. Later they transferred him to Cochabamba where the diagnosis of lumbar fracture further increased the amount to be paid.
Days before returning to Jujuy, where the rehabilitation was finally completed, they asked for a summary of expenses and there they noted that they had to pay $2,100 for the use of the shampoo, toilet paper and bath soap.
“Since the day I arrived there were regarding 6 thousand dollars (debt), between all hospital expensesmedications and the visit of the doctor”, Vilca told to the Jujuy media, back to Argentina.
The impact in Argentina
At that time, the case took on public relevance to a certain extent that Governor Gerardo Morales got into the controversy and worked to draw up an agreement for five years where access to health is enabled for Argentines in Bolivia.
So it was that the then Secretary of Health, Adolfo Rubinstein, and the Minister of Health of Bolivia, Gabriela Montaño, signed the agreement in July 2019.
This promised to “deepen cooperation between the two countries in terms of medical assistance in public health establishments, epidemiological surveillance systems and health actions in border areas.”
The agreement by which they agreed to guarantee free and timely emergency treatment is still in force. Thus it was that the death of Benítez aroused the quick reaction of Morales. “Bolivia is not complying. That agreement is in force, it is for five years and has not been denounced by Bolivia”, raised.
ar / ds
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