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Doctors and residents in Argentina up in arms, protests swell every month

On one occasion, I prescribed a powdered antibiotic to a patient who needed it. As a mother living alone, she contracted a terrible infection. It never dawned on me that the patient may not have the proper tools to prepare it. When I visited her, I found out she lacked drinking water at home, and could not prepare the medicine. When I saw how she lived, I felt angry at the world.

  • 12 months ago
  • April 15, 2023
4 min read
INTERVIEW SUBJECT
Conrad Gysin serves as a resident physician in Rosario, Argentina. He is a member of SIPRUS (Union of University Health Professionals), which brings together all health professionals who graduated from public universities. He is also a member of the university organization ALDE-CEPA.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Within the Argentine health system, medical residencies are one of the essential requirements for any medical professional who aspires to obtain a qualified degree as a specialist in a specific field of medicine. The characteristics of the services they provide are generally in an outside establishment, with compliance with a previously assigned schedule, under regulatory regimes. According to statements made by physicians, the system abuses residents, forcing them to perform shifts of up to 36 hours of uninterrupted work. This trend means that many young doctors who have recently graduated do not take the path of residency to complete their training and leave the health system exposed to a number of vacant positions, especially in the public system.

ROSARIO, Argentina — Despite graduating medical school, my country does not see medical residents as real doctors yet. Many of us feel like the hospitals put us on trial, working insane hours and using our free labor to make up for the government’s lack of funding. Our options as caretakers become very limited, so we decided to take our fight to the streets and to protest. 

The fight grows after discovering horrible patient conditions

Our protests not only reveal the importance of our work as medical professionals, but also denounce lack of funding and resources for hospitals. I encountered many cases of patients arriving with issues related to drug addiction, and relapsing as soon as they leave. I also saw people dying of hunger, trying to make the small bag of food from the government last longer.

On one occasion, I prescribed a powdered antibiotic to a patient who needed it. As a mother living alone, she contracted a terrible infection. It never dawned on me that the patient may not have the proper tools to prepare it. When I visited her, I found out she lacked drinking water at home, and could not prepare the medicine. When I saw how she lived, I felt angry at the world.

Read more inspiring protest stories at Orato World Media 

Treating these patients and seeing the horrible conditions they live in, my heart breaks. I think about it night and day; and cannot disconnect from it after work. This realization opened my eyes to an even bigger issue, beyond just hospitals. The government neglects its own people. Our healthcare system seems like a joke, and so little can be done just from our side. We fight for better conditions and healthcare for everyone.

We need to fix the entire system, starting with the top 

Since 2015, Argentina passed laws recognizing the rights of its medical residents. Yet, little has been done to honor those laws.  We still lack rights in our work environment. I work overtime constantly, without any payment for my efforts. After the pandemic, I assumed people finally understood the importance of medical workers. Yet, our sacrifices remain invisible. I try every day to stay motivated and learn to be better at my job, but the complete disregard for our work creates challenges. 

The system relies on young doctors eager to establish themselves in the field to cover up its shortcomings. It fails to meet our basic needs. They ignore our contract hours and provide no payment for the additional time we put in. There exists no bonuses of any kind, no seniority benefits, no proper compensation, and terrible work conditions. We organize protests regularly hoping to raise awareness about our situation. Years of injustice lead to many medical residents resigning and losing hope in the system. We know our rights and no longer want to put up with this treatment. 

With every protest, we grow larger

With organizations now representing us and helping us organize, demonstrations take place monthly, in public, and more and more people join the fight. It seems like the government believes the strikes will die down, and they count on us giving up. We intend to keep fighting for as long as it takes.

I feel convinced our actions will eventually create change. Many doctors fight with us, while others go into private practice to keep food on the table. My heart sinks every time a colleague quits, but I understand their pain. All we want is to care for our patients and be there for them in their moment of need. Our ill treatment overshadows our love for the profession.

We became doctors because we love healing people and making a difference in society. Unfortunately, the constant exploitation we endure makes it hard to love what we do anymore. We hope, in time, the government will see our unwavering dedication to change, and join us. 

Translation Disclaimer

Translations provided by Orato World Media are intended to result in the end translated document being understandable in the end language. Although every effort is made to ensure our translations are accurate we cannot guarantee the translation will be without errors.

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