Entre Ríos' Justicialist Party used World Mental Health Day to demand a broader budgetary and legislative response to the provincial crisis. The party argues that the current health-emergency declaration acknowledges the problem but does not provide specific new resources.
The criticism is directed at provincial Decree 2130. In the PJ's view, an administrative declaration is insufficient unless it is backed by new appropriations, treatment teams, preventive policies and permanent tools to sustain services.
In its statement, the party said Entre Ríos has the country's highest suicide rate and that suicide is the leading cause of death among young people. The PJ cited those indicators to argue that the issue requires priority treatment.
The party stressed that the figures represent families and communities that did not receive timely support. It called for a policy combining clinical care, early prevention, local intervention and social assistance.
Funding is at the center of the dispute. The PJ's main objection is that the emergency declaration did not increase the mental-health budget, meaning that formal recognition of the crisis does not automatically expand the system's operational capacity.
The party proposes a specific mental-health protection law. The goal is to move beyond a temporary administrative emergency toward permanent obligations, identifiable resources and monitoring mechanisms.
The demand adds to criticism from health workers, organizations, opposition lawmakers and civil-society groups. The debate now centers on whether the executive will increase funding or whether the legislature will open a discussion on a longer-term policy.
For now, the provincial decree remains the governing instrument. The next step depends on whether the budget demand becomes a concrete legislative initiative and whether a political majority is willing to support a specific protection and prevention law.
