Surgeries increase in public hospitals and attribute it to the least people have a prepaid or social work

The jump in the prices of the Prepaid quotas Throughout the last year, plus people who ran out of work and lost his social workit is already reflected in the statistics, which indicate that a greater burden on the public system. A striking fact of this trend is the important increase that surgical interventions have had in the hospitals of the city.

According to official sources, Porteño public hospitals made More than 50,000 operations in 2024which implies a 31% increase compared to the previous year. With 12,764, the most representative figure results in the General Surgery service, followed by endoscopy and traumatology with more than 6,000 in the year, each.

For example, in 2024, the Santojanni Hospital (located in the Mataderos neighborhood), a key institution within the Health system, experienced an increase in the 30% In the amount of surgeries carried out, compared to previous years, and sources from another city health center ensure that the rise was of a 15% In the last year.

Thus, as this media could know, in the public health system of the City of Buenos Aires, around 100,000 benefits per day. Of that total, it is estimated that between a 30% y 40% of patients has some type of health coverage while The rest (60% and 70%) It is attended exclusively in the public system.

At the same time, in the offices and guards there is more and more demand for medical care by people from the province of Buenos Aires and patients Without any coverage Health

The phenomenon also extends to the Hospital of Clinics, of the UBA, where the demand grew between 25 % and 30 %. “Historically, the hospital attended more than 50% of patients without social work, but today a quota was established according to each service since the needs and supplies are different,” sources from the clinics indicate.

What is behind this phenomenon? In principle, the increase responds to the implementation of what the City Ministry of Health called “Scheduled Surgery Plan”, a strategy whose objective is to increase interventions by an average of 1,000 monthly surgeries (2,000 more peaks were recorded in October 2024, compared to the same period of 2023), reduce surgical suspensions (which established a decrease from 21 to 13%), expand the schedules of the operating room (enabling the evening and also on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays) and strengthening the equipment and personnel of each hospital.

“This increase was also possible thanks to the incorporation of new anesthesia tables and surgical stretchers, which allowed to expand the operational capacity of the hospital,” they indicate from the Santojanni.

As it could relieve Clariona new trend is being generated: the average sectors and workers formalized, which were previously attended in private clinics, Today they turn to the public system.

Why? “To the loss of employment, the increase in coverage and restrictions imposed by many social works. Surgical demand has increased, often, without a direct correlation with greater resources. The phenomenon raises an urgent challenge for health planning: guaranteeing access to timely surgical care, safe and equitable, in a context of greater pressure on the public system,” says Miguel Huespe, head of service in the hospital. Santojanni.

Undoubtedly, the economic situation impacts access to health services. With respect to evolution during 2024, from the Buenos Aires health portfolio observe that Between 2% and 5% of those who had social work or prepaid medical coverage stopped having it so far this year.

This increase that – according to data from the Hospital Directorate and the Health Cabinet Headquarters – represents 1.2% of people with exclusive public coverage, that is, they are registered in the system without social work, prepaid or other coverage, it can be explained by a combination of structural, socio -economic, political and demographic factors.

For example, from the Santojanni hospital they observe a marked decrease in the number of patients with private medicine coverage. “Many of them go to the public system for surgical interventions or high complexity consultations. It is also common for them to use public system services in emergency situations or when they look for specialized attention.” Huespe says.

Another relevant fact is that so far from 2025 there is a 25% increase (with respect to 2024) of consultations in the public system. “They are not necessarily new people, but the same ones that obtain more shifts or that despite having any coverage such as Pami are also attended to the public system,” they clarify from the Buenos Aires health portfolio.

As he could know Clarion unofficially, the figure covers 600.000 personas Without social work or prepaid while between 300 and 400 thousand they have coverage, but they are served in the public system (the rest is usually attended in private clinics).

So that the increase in consultations in the public system implies between 5,000 and 10,000 people and the number is expected to increase at a similar or slightly higher rate. But, we must also consider a dough portion that arrives in the city from other districts.

Are there more conurbano patients than a year ago? “Currently, the percentage of outpatient attention of people who declare not to reside in the city of Buenos Aires is from 36%”, They respond from the City Ministry of Health, given the restlessness of this medium.

From the Santojanni they mention that they attend to a significant proportion of patients from Buenos Aires. “Reports from the Institute of Statistics and Census of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (IDECBA) indicate that the programmatic area of ​​the hospital covers areas with high population density, which contributes to a Growing demand for health services“Huespe points out.

As for foreigners without Argentine ID, the registration is less than 1% and, in most cases, these are guardians. In this sense, it should be noted that the city announced a new system to charge programmed medical care (emergencies will remain free). On the other hand, foreigners with ID who register residence in the city of Buenos Aires have guaranteed attention as Buenos Aires.

Sources of the Buenos Aires ministerial portfolio, indicate that the public health system has a very solid structure of cost recovery through the billing and collection system of public effectors (FACOEP), a mechanism that allows them to invoice more than 13,000 million pesos per month, based on attention made to people with social work, prepaid or other forms of coverage.

An important fact to dimension this: between the 30% and 40% of those who receive attention in Buenos Aires hospitals have some type of coverage, and represent the main basis of that resource recovery strategy.

“That percentage shows how the public system, in addition to providing universal access, is capable of sustaining part of its operation with management and efficiency tools,” sources from the City Ministry of Health emphasize.