The words of the Minister of Health, Mario Lugones, sounded a few hours before the protest over the crisis in Pami, that was felt in different parts of the country. “Pami has around a million people over 80 years old over the five million beneficiaries. It has almost 6,000 people over 100 years old. There are already grandparents, children and grandchildren in Pami. It is a very big burden“He said within the framework of the AmCham Summit, the summit of the US Chamber of Commerce in Argentina. His approach was absurd, to say the least, in the case of a social work for retirees, in the midst of a crisis that led doctors to unemployment and puts the functioning of the entire system at risk.
Mario Lugones, Minister of Health
«What happens is that in PAMI there are grandparents over 80 years old. “It is a very big LOAD.”Total normality. The government of the sons of bitches. Here the only burden we have is to pay the bribes of ADORNI and Karina Milei pic.twitter.com/PlWGJRJ038
— Arrepentidos de Milei (@ArrepentidosLLA) April 15, 2026
After 11 in the morning, different groups gathered in front of the Social Work headquarters, protesting against the adjustment and its effects on health. “The Pami is ours by law, so we have to report that they are stealing from us,” a retiree said before the cameras during the protest. “Without decent and sufficient remuneration there is no possibility of providing quality health,” said Pami workers next to a soup kitchen and in a press conference in front of the headquarters at Avenida Corrientes 655, to denounce the cuts by Javier Milei’s government.
The concentration coincides with the third day of strike by family doctors, in protest for a recent resolution that establishes $2,100 payment per patient. In fact, they report that it means charging up to 50% less.
In this framework, Lugones not only argued that the “burden” on Pami has to do with the large number of affiliated people over 80 years of age, but also assured that the professionals are being paid. What he did not clarify is that there are doctors charging these days for January care.
The protest over the Pami crisis occurred shortly before a new demonstration of retirees, like every Wednesday, before Congress.
All over the country
The protest was felt strongly in Córdoba. There was a massive mobilization that brought together the demands of doctors and patients. In that province, center closures, benefit cuts and an entire system at risk of collapse have already been reported.
“I have been working at Pami for more than 15 years. It is the first time we have experienced this. It is unpublished. A reduction in salary of 52%“, explained Constanza Feres, a psychiatrist. “It is a cut that is being seen, gradual, because retirees are having their salaries and Pami benefits cut. They don’t get the diapers, the shifts are for three-four monthswe have to contain them. “It is a very complicated situation,” he described before Workers Press.
#Cordova “Garbage honey” they shout in the middle of the protest over the cuts to Pami in the middle of a strike by primary doctors. There are signs for pharmacies and providing clinics. The police with security operation. Mobile @radiomitrecba. pic.twitter.com/b1AciWwydg
— Leonardo Guevara (@leoguevara80) April 15, 2026
There was also a march in Comodoro Rivadavia, where dozens of retirees gathered in front of the main headquarters to give testimony. “The economic resource capacity of each of the retirees is very low and medications continue to rise. Today they have to determine, in cities like ours, or eat or pay for electricity or be able to pay for medicines. This is very serious,” described Mario Soto, a retiree.
As stated Chroniclethe executive director of Pami in Chubut, Vanesa Nieva, approached the protesters and asked them to send their claims in writing to raise them. “We are caring for people with health problems and survival problems. People can no longer even pay for the basket,” he acknowledged. And he added: “I ask you please that this request or claim that you are making do so in writing so that I can raise it. “I apologize for this situation.”
“We retirees are in mourning“, was the motto at the A.MA.LU (Older Adults in Struggle) march in Tandil. The mobilization on public roads went to the Pami headquarters and a group entered, but there was no authority to receive them.
