With 0.29% of what Kicillof spends on gender per year, he could pay PBA's debt to Garrahan
The situation was detailed by Secretary of Worship and Civilization, Nahuel Sotelo, in statements to the media outlet Neura. "The Instituto de Obra Médico Asistencial (the health insurance of the province of Buenos Aires, managed by Kicillof) owes 4 billion pesos to Garrahan", he stated.
He added: "Then they raise the flag of health", alluding to what he described as a contradiction between the official discourse and the real commitments assumed by the Kirchnerist administration.
The Buenos Aires provincial government led by Axel Kicillof once again finds itself at the center of public debate over the distribution of fiscal resources. While it faces growing demands for the financing of the healthcare system, its administration will allocate in 2025 more than $1,425,944,000,000 to structures and programs related to so-called "gender policies".
The contrast between that figure and the unpaid obligations to reference hospitals such as Garrahan exposes a highly ideologized budget policy, which has been questioned by various sectors.
The amount planned for gender policies far exceeds that of many other sensitive areas of the State. Furthermore, with 0.29% of what Kicillof spends on gender per year, he could pay PBA's debt to Garrahan.
With a consolidated budget that reaches record levels in this area, the provincial government keeps administrative structures, training programs, subsidies, campaigns and agencies whose effectiveness in terms of social impact has been scarcely evaluated. However, these allocations increase year after year, even in contexts of widespread austerity.
The controversy deepens as it becomes known that, simultaneously, the Buenos Aires Executive keeps significant debts with key medical institutions. Hospital Garrahan, one of the leading pediatric centers in Latin America, carries a debt of more than $4,135 million from IOMA, the provincial health insurance, administered by Kicillof's own government.
To this are added liabilities of $149,000 million with five other hospitals jointly managed by the Nation and Province, located in areas with high healthcare demand such as Cañuelas, La Matanza, Florencio Varela, and Esteban Echeverría.
Garrahan has been experiencing a structural crisis for years aggravated by the lack of supplies, loss of personnel, and poor working conditions. Although it is a jointly managed institution with the Nation, the debt maintained by the province directly impacts its operation.
The problem is not isolated: the other affected hospitals also operate under critical conditions, without the necessary resources to maintain quality care.
The allocation of more than one trillion pesos to so-called gender policies once again highlights the ideological orientation of state spending in the province. Under this label are included everything from awareness campaigns to bureaucratic structures created in recent years, which consume billions without clear audit mechanisms or accountability for results.
The justification for these allocations is often based on identity discourses, but in practice, their funding displaces resources that could be directed to essential areas such as health, education, or security.
In a context of national austerity, the choice of priorities by Axel Kicillof's administration is particularly striking. While allocations are increased for ideological agendas, payments to essential services are cut or postponed.
