Latest news with #MarioLugones
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Argentina hospital staff hold vigil demanding wage increase
STORY: :: June 2, 2025 :: Buenos Aires, Argentina :: Staff at a pediatric hospital in Argentina hold a protest vigil, demanding better pay "Our working hours go between 60 and 70 hours weekly and we have six shifts throughout the month, one per week, plus two weekend shifts, plus an 8-hour workday from 8 am to 4 pm, although sometimes we arrive earlier and leave later. For all this work, with everything it involves, with the high complexity that Garrahan Hospital handles, a first-year resident, like in my case, received $675 in my last paycheck, which equals about $2.40 per hour." :: Argentina's health minister has announced a raise but Garrahan Hospital staff say it's not enough "We were offered a non-remunerative bonus of about $250 as the proposed solution. However, it's important to highlight that what we requested was a salary adjustment, and this offer does not meet that request. I said it was offered, but in reality it was imposed - until they analyze if they could incorporate it into our salary." The health professionals have been confronting the government for two weeks, demanding a concrete proposal to improve their salary situation, arguing that they have long working hours and insufficient pay. Over the weekend, the Argentine Health Minister Mario Lugones announced a raise in the income for residents, who currently earn less than 800,000 pesos ($677) in the first year of the training period, to 1,300,000 pesos ($1,101) starting July 1st. Nevertheless, the medical professionals expressed discontent on Monday night. The residents were accompanied by colleagues and pediatric patients and their relatives during the protest vigil.
Medscape
28-05-2025
- Business
- Medscape
RFK Jr., Argentine Health Minister Slam WHO as Their Countries Affirm Withdrawal
(Reuters) -U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Argentine Minister of Health Mario Lugones slammed the World Health Organization as their countries affirmed exits from the group in a joint statement on Tuesday. Kennedy and Lugones criticized WHO's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it showed "structural and operational shortcomings that undermined global trust and highlighted the urgent need for independent, science-based leadership in global health." "Withdrawal marks the beginning of a new path - toward building a modern global health cooperation model grounded in scientific integrity, transparency, sovereignty, and accountability," Kennedy and Lugones said. Kennedy visited Argentina this week and met with President Javier Milei about the withdrawal and what the U.S. official called the "creation of an alternative international health system," in an X post on Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump, in one of the first official acts of his second term, ordered the U.S. to exit the WHO within a year, citing the "inappropriate political influence of WHO member states." Trump also balked at "unfairly onerous payments" by the U.S., WHO's largest financial supporter. Argentina announced its departure from WHO in February. According to two sources and a document reviewed by Reuters, the Trump administration considered remaining in WHO if reforms were made, including having a U.S. director-general. (Reporting by Christian Martinez; Editing by Richard Chang)
Reuters
27-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
RFK Jr., Argentine health minister slam WHO as their countries affirm withdrawal
May 27 (Reuters) - U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Argentine Minister of Health Mario Lugones slammed the World Health Organization as their countries affirmed exits from the group in a joint statement on Tuesday. Kennedy and Lugones criticized WHO's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it showed "structural and operational shortcomings that undermined global trust and highlighted the urgent need for independent, science-based leadership in global health." "Withdrawal marks the beginning of a new path - toward building a modern global health cooperation model grounded in scientific integrity, transparency, sovereignty, and accountability," Kennedy and Lugones said. Kennedy visited Argentina this week and met with President Javier Milei about the withdrawal and what the U.S. official called the "creation of an alternative international health system," in an X post on Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump, in one of the first official acts of his second term, ordered the U.S. to exit the WHO within a year, citing the "inappropriate political influence of WHO member states." Trump also balked at "unfairly onerous payments" by the U.S., WHO's largest financial supporter. Argentina announced its departure from WHO in February. According to two sources and a document reviewed by Reuters, the Trump administration considered remaining in WHO if reforms were made, including having a U.S. director-general.
The Guardian
27-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Argentina ratifies decision to withdraw from WHO as RFK Jr visits Buenos Aires
Argentina has ratified its decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) during a visit to Buenos Aires by the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr. The decision to pull out of the WHO was initially announced in February by Argentina's president, Javier Milei, following in the footsteps of his US counterpart Donald Trump who had said in January the United States would withdraw. Milei's government justified its departure from the UN agency in a statement on Monday. 'The WHO's prescriptions do not work because they are not based on science but on political interests and bureaucratic structures that refuse to review their own mistakes,' the statement said. Buenos Aires has previously accused the agency of 'disastrous' management during the Covid pandemic with its 'caveman quarantine'. The announcement came as Kennedy and the Argentinian health minister, Mario Lugones, met to define 'a joint work agenda that will strengthen transparency and trust in the health system'. 'Together with Robert Kennedy, we believe in the future of collaboration in global health. We have similar visions about the path forward,' Lugones said. Kennedy, a controversial Trump pick for health secretary given his vaccine skepticism, is also expected to meet with Milei during his visit. In a video broadcast at the WHO's annual assembly last week, he urged other governments to withdraw from the agency and create other institutions. In his speech, Kennedy alleged that the UN health agency was under undue influence from China, gender ideology and the pharmaceutical industry. The Argentinian government also announced a 'structural review' of national health agencies to 'organize, update, and make transparent the structures and processes' of the health system 'that for years operated with overlaps, outdated regulations and limited oversight'.
