Retirees from Comodoro Rivadavia again demonstrated in front of the PAMI headquarters to demand answers about local care. The representative Fabián Pereira focused the protest on two concerns: a significant reduction in the office staff and the suspicion that the organization is considering implementing the Elderly Health Program as an alternative for its members.
Pereira recalled that the proposal formally began on April 27 with a petition delivered to the local interventor, Vanesa Nievas. The presentation also reached the Municipality of Comodoro Rivadavia, the mayor, authorities of Rada Tilly, councilors of both cities, and provincial and national legislators. The demonstrators maintain that they have still not received an adequate response from these political levels.
The leader stated that the delegation would go from 80 workers to only 20 to attend to 31 thousand affiliates and Malvinas ex-combatants. That figure was presented by the retirees and was not accompanied by an official confirmation from PAMI in the information available. For the group, a reduction of that magnitude would aggravate delays in procedures, claims, and consultations that already bring many people to the office daily.
The second objection points to a possible arrival of the PROSATE, which operates in Trelew and Puerto Madryn. Pereira said that retirees with previous experiences described a malfunction of the program and rejected moving forward without consulting centers and groups of older people. The representative presented the implementation as a suspicion, not as a decision formally communicated by the authorities.
She also questioned the advocate for the Elderly, Hernán Silva, for having expressed support for this possibility without prior consultation, according to the complaint. The attendees asked Nievas to give explanations as the political head of the delegation and extended the request to the rest of the representatives of the region. The official was not in the city during the protest.
Pereira linked the situation of the PAMI with broader difficulties in the healthcare system and mentioned a lack of supplies and hospital overcrowding. These assessments are part of the protesters' diagnosis. The confirmed facts are the reiteration of the petition and the gathering in front of the headquarters; both the final reduction of staff and the adoption of the PROSATE remain without official announcement in the information released.
