The Ministry of Health of the Nation, when it was still in charge of Carla Vizzottisigned contracts for the rental of offices and garages of the central building located on Avenida Bartolomé Miter 434 for a value of almost four and a half million dollars. It was through three agreements that are still in force. The Buenos Aires headquarters of the Superintendency of Health Services (SSS), the organization that manages, among other things, the large millions of union social works. The last lease contract for that building was made on November 1, 2023That is, weeks after the change of federal authorities on December 10. The official opening of the “new headquarters” of the SSS It was November 23, almost at the same time that Javier Milei he was trying on the presidential sash. The first of the dollarized contracts expires in August of this year and the last on May 31, 2025.
Until then, the offices of the Superintendency of Health Services operated three blocks away, in Roque Sáenz Peña Avenue 530. The biannual contract that the Ministry of Health had for those apartments, with their garages, was several times lower, although very high in a country where inflation did not stop growing and neither did poverty and destitution, it was $1,217,860.
Moving from one building to another was also onerous: $168,649,000. In the contract it appears that “an external and internal Moving Service, boxes and storage of space for the Superintendence of Health Services.” Unlike the rentals, which were carried out “directly”, in the case of the move the contracting was carried out by “public bidding”.
The information arises from the court audits carried out by the General Audit Office of the Nation (SIGEN) on the ministries and agencies of the State at the request of the President.
At least the rental of the ground floor, mezzanine, and the 1st, 2nd and 5th floors with their respective garages of the building located at Bartolomé Miter 434, in the heart of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) remain valid, But from the Casa Rosada they are already looking for alternatives for when “the contract falls.”
The rental contracts were made at different times and for unequal periods. On September 1, 2022, the lease for the ground floor and the third and fourth floors was signed. The contract is valid for 24 months. It expires on August 31, 2024, that is, in four months.
The total value of the contract was set at $1,760,472 and it was agreed that the monthly sum to be paid would be $73,353.
On June 1, 2023, the Ministry of Health signed a new contract, this time to rent the mezzanine, and the first, second and fifth floors. It was also for two years. The total amount of agreement was for 2,449,656 dollars and the monthly payment is $102,069. Garages are included in the value.
On November 1, 2023, that is, 40 days before leaving the government because Javier Milei took office on December 10, the outgoing authorities decided to “extend the contract” and rent, for “19 months,” the sixth floor of the same building. The total amount was set at $264,280.5. The monthly payment is $13,909.5. In this case, the hiring “falls” on May 31, 2025.
The total contracts add up $4,474,410.
A quick visit to the Health Ministry’s website reveals that on Monday, February 27, 2023, it was announced that “as of Monday, March 6, the personalized attention of the Superintendency of Health Services in CABA will operate just 150 meters away.” from its current location -Av. Roque Sáenz Peña 530-” and that on “Friday, March 3, the organization will not provide assistance to the public for logistical tasks related to the move.”
The official inauguration of “the new facilities” – rented – of the SSS was held, with the presence of a military band on November 23, 2023, 17 days after the change in management.
The ceremony, which took place on the road, at the entrance door, was attended by, among others, the then superintendent of health services, Daniel Lopez, and the general secretary of the Health union and triumvir of the CGT, Hector Daer.
Dr. López, a man close to the former Minister of Health Ginés González Garcíaknew how to keep a low profile until he was pointed out in October 2022 by the then vice president Cristina Kirchner. He pointed it at him, at the president Alberto Fernandezto the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, and to the Secretary of Commerce, Matías Tombolini, because the SSS had authorized an increase of 13.8% in December in prepaid medicine plans, which were going to close that year with a cumulative increase of 113.8%. For the former president, that increase was “frankly unacceptable”.
Although Daer was smiling at the inauguration of the new SSS offices, both he and the CGT had promoted David Aruachanthe general manager of the SSS, but the president finally chose the man from González García who had been displaced from office after the scandal over the “VIP Vaccination.”
López assumed duties in May 2021, a few days after the death of Eugenio Zanarinianother man of absolute confidence of the former Minister of Health, who despite the fact that he was no longer fulfilling his duties and had been reported to justice – the case is in full development – managed to keep the agency that manages the multimillion-dollar funds under his orbit. of social works and still does.
Until the move of more than 160 million pesos, the rent for the offices that the SSS had at Roque Sáenz Peña 530 – which was not renewed by the current authorities – had also been made directly and also in foreign currency: $1,217,860 for a period of two years.
