The Government of Javier Milei strongly rejected the complaints of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) about an alleged lack of funding for their hospitals, and he assured that the items corresponding to the health function “are up to date”.
The Undersecretary of University Policies, Alejandro Álvarez, was responsible for sharing official data through his account on the social network X. There he said: “The
budgetary allocations allocated to the UBA for the 'health function' are up to date,” and he shared supporting documentation on the transfers and budgetary requests made by the university itself
.
Along the same lines, during a radio interview, the official was emphatic in ruling out any non-compliance on the part of the Government: “For everyone to know, first of all, the national government has no delays in the transfer of budgetary funds. In other words, they are up to date.”
Budgetary items.
As Álvarez explained, the axis of the conflict lies in a confusion, or biased interpretation, between different budgetary items. “What corresponds to the health function was transferred. Two things are being confused here, which is why I say that the person responsible is Matías Ruiz, who does not explain, with obvious political intention, why they are proposing a dismissal opposition march next week
,” he said.
The official pointed directly at the administrative secretary of the UBA, stating that “he is the person who should inform the doctors correctly.”
In that sense, he sought to separate health professionals from the conflict: “I understand that doctors don't have to know about budgetary and administrative issues, that's why I don't want to burden that.”
One of the central points of the response was the clarification of the destination of the funds claimed by the university.
Álvarez explained that the item mentioned by the university authorities does not correspond exclusively to the UBA, but to thewhole system. “Those 80 billion are for all university hospitals. We are a federal country,” he remarked, and listed institutions from different provinces that also depend on
this funding. The UBA order.
In addition, it revealed that the UBA itself requested a large majority proportion of these resources. “There is a note from Mr. Matías Ruiz asking us for 95% of that budget, leaving only 4 billion for all hospitals in the country. That is the intention of the UBA,” he denounced
.
Regarding the allocation of this specific item, the undersecretary explained that it is still under evaluation: “The year is just beginning and we are evaluating what the needs are. In addition, we are in dialogue with all these other university hospitals to evaluate a rational mechanism according to indicators to be able to assign it.”
In this context, he questioned the university's strategy and linked it to a political maneuver: “It's not a note and saying 'since I am in the country's capital and I have access to all national media, I can generate fear and panic in the population by threatening to close the hospital to obtain a measure from the government. '”
Finally, Álvarez defended the official project sent to Congress, stating that it includes comprehensive measures for the system: “The only project that contemplates a reinforcement of health insurance is ours,” he said, in contrast to initiatives promoted by the opposition that are limited to salaries.
In this way, the Government of Milei denied the complaints of the UBA and revealed that there is no funding crisis.
