A cesarean section exposes the healthcare failure in La Falda caused by Javier Dieminger

A scheduled cesarean section will be the first procedure performed under the agreement signed between the municipality and the Medical Emergency Center. After months without surgeries at the municipal hospital, the measure seeks to conceal the paralysis caused by the lack of anesthesiologists in the local operating room. Radical mayor Javier Dieminger now presents as an achievement what is actually the consequence of his own negligence.

The agreement with CEM will allow residents without medical coverage to access scheduled obstetric and basic specialty surgeries. However, the initiative comes when the health crisis has already caused distress for hundreds of families left adrift in critical moments. This is not a planned advance, but a stopgap measure that attempts to contain the political cost of official inaction.

The municipality had to transfer essential equipment and guarantee its own staff to support this modality, which highlights the precariousness of the system. The measure will have an initial duration of three months, with the possibility of automatic renewal. The improvisation is so evident that now public health depends on temporary agreements, not on serious and responsible management.

Funds for shows, not for health

Meanwhile, while the hospital was accumulating debts with the anesthesiology staff, the municipality had no hesitation in squandering resources on million-dollar festivals. Mayor Dieminger allocated more than 100 million pesos (220,462 pounds) to hire renowned bands and stage shows, ignoring the fact that the operating room was already paralyzed. The health of the residents was relegated in order to prioritize temporary shows with no real impact on the local economy.

The contrast is stark: while taxpayers were demanding basic medical care, the municipality was spending fortunes on lights, sound, and high-fee artists. The decision exposed an administration more concerned with maintaining its political showcase than with guaranteeing essential services. The population was forced to accept referrals and long waits, while the stages excelled with public money.

The results of that strategy were also a failure: official hotel occupancy figures confirmed a season well below expectations. Local merchants did not see significant benefits, despite the enormous expenditures on shows. Funds that should have been allocated to keeping the region's only public operating room functioning were squandered.

A mayor who evades responsibilities

Since the summer, Dieminger has tried to distance himself from the collapse of the municipal hospital, insisting that the situation would be temporary. However, months have passed and only now is a shortcut being sought with an agreement that barely masks the emergency. The reality is that the failure to pay anesthesiologists was a political decision, not an inevitable accident.

The radical mayor seeks to instill the idea that services were never interrupted, when in fact there was a total lack of surgical care throughout the area. The absence of immediate solutions left hundreds of families depending on distant and overcrowded hospitals. That delay was nothing but negligence disguised as normality.

The agreement with CEM is not a substantive solution, but a desperate measure to try to reverse months of neglect.  The municipal administration turned an essential obligation into a temporary business that only covers appearances. Residents know this is not an achievement, but a confession of the most serious failure in public health in La Falda.