Doctors quit in protest as Argentina cuts health budget
Doctors working for Argentina’s Health Ministry have resigned together, saying the government is taking apart important health programmes. They warn this could put people’s lives at risk.
The doctors were part of a department responsible for vaccines and disease control. They say the government has fired key workers and not replaced them. This has made it harder to fight diseases like measles and hepatitis A.
They accuse President Javier Milei’s government of not following its legal duties to protect public health.
In a public letter, the doctors said they could not stay in a system that was failing to do its job.
They described their resignations as an ethical decision to warn the country about what is happening and argue that public health is not a waste of money but an investment in people’s well-being.
Infectious disease specialist Carolina Selent said many health experts who had worked for over a decade were dismissed.
"Key colleagues have not been reinstated, including those leading major campaigns on flu vaccination, pertussis surveillance [a previously controlled disease that is now resurging], and Hepatitis A and measles monitoring — both of which are currently experiencing outbreaks," she was quoted by Buenos Aires Times.
Doctors, nurses and patients recently protested in Buenos Aires against these health cuts. They say layoffs and funding cuts are damaging the public health system.
President Milei, however, says these changes are necessary to fix a system that was already failing.
Milei’s government has cut public spending by 27% and fired more than 30,000 government workers. He has also announced Argentina will leave the World Health Organization (WHO) because of what he calls "major differences" with the group’s policies.
