Municipal imaging center exceeded 10,000 exam services in its first year and plans to open services at fair prices

Installed in the Popular Clinical Laboratory, it allows coverage of high-demand services in Buenos Aires CESFAM, such as abdominal echotomography, chest and dental x-rays.

In April 2023, the Valparaíso Imaging Center began operating, located at the intersection of Avenida Argentina with Subida Washington and Santa Elena.

And in its first year of operation, the balance has exceeded all expectations, since it has achieved all the annual care goals required by the SSVSA for the Diagnostic Imaging Program (Chest X-rays and Abdominal Ultrasound Scans), reaching more than 10 thousand benefits in total.

At this point, Mayor Jorge Sharp highlights that “the more than 10 thousand services provided by the Imaging Center are the reflection of a job well done, well planned and, most importantly, that improves the standards and service times of the porteños and porteñas who are primary health users. For us, this Center also means satisfaction, because it is proven that this type of initiatives can be executed from the public, in this case, a municipality; that we can strengthen health care by applying another model, where municipal health responds with creativity and responsibility to the demands for decent health, without having to spend millions of pesos on outsourcing services and benefits, such as x-rays and ultrasounds, which “They should be enshrined as a right.”

The details of the services carried out in 2023 and so far in 2024 consider a total of 3,425 chest x-rays, 1,410 abdominal ultrasounds, 2,200 obstetric ultrasounds, and 2,066 panoramic dental x-rays (details table at the end of the text).

In addition to these auspicious figures, achievements also stand out, such as the one that considers that since November 2023, it assumed the provision of screening for pediatric hip dysplasia (3-month-old boys and girls) in all the primary health centers of the commune, and that before carried out by the Carlos Van Buren Hospital.

Added to the above is the monthly delivery of a portfolio of musculoskeletal benefits, after evaluation, according to the requirements of each health center, which so far totals 526 benefits.

The care model and the future

The director of the Health area, Mónica Riveros, highlighted that “the first anniversary of the Imaging Center finds us in the middle of the process that will allow us to accredit it in quality and safety of care. Expectations were met, we even exceeded the annual care goals established by the Health Service, which allowed us to reduce waiting lists and care times for cases that are referred from all CESFAMs in the commune. The integration of the Center with the CESFAM and SAPU network has strengthened our care model in Valparaíso. And this modern space, with state-of-the-art equipment and a group of trained officials, fulfills another of our objectives, which is to provide dignified and quality public health care to all Buenos Aires residents.”

With this positive balance, the goals and plans for the remainder of 2024 are ambitious, and in addition to accreditation, the provision of an intraoral dental x-ray room and the incorporation of the Center into the Valparaíso Popular Health Network are contemplated, to deliver its services at affordable prices for all Buenos Aires residents.

The Imaging Center included an investment of $280 million, financed by the Diagnostic Imaging and Dental Programs in Primary Health Care Program, the result of an agreement between the Health Directorate of the Municipal Corporation of Valparaíso with the Valparaíso Health Service – San Antonio (SSVSA). Its operation has generated savings for the Municipal Health area, which stopped outsourcing these services, thus having a greater possibility of attention and resolution of waiting lists.

SUMMARY TABLE OF IMAGING CENTER BENEFITS