The rector of the University of Buenos Aires,
Ricardo Gelpi,
participated this Thursday in the embrace of the Hospital de Clínicas in the prelude to a mobilization of students, labor unions and social organizations called for next Tuesday, April 23 in defense of public universities. In this framework, the professor maintained that if the budgetary situation does not change,
"in two months the UBA will have to close."
Gelpi gave a press conference with deans and authorities of the university health centers. The rector maintained that the current
budgetary emergency
that the UBA is going through has not been experienced
“never before in the last 40 years of democracy.”
In the context of the protest, he maintained that he understands “the situation the country is in” and stated that
it was “necessary to do something”
about the issue. “We are not oblivious to what is happening. But this
is the adjustment of the adjustment
that we had already been suffering,” she considered.
The academic considered that “
by suffocating education
, science and health” it will not be possible to “get ahead.” In turn, he added that the study center is
“at the limit of operation”
and that it has reached “a point of extreme gravity, in which the future
of hundreds of thousands of Argentinians
is compromised .”
When asked about how much longer the UBA could operate with the current budget and with a sharp increase in utility bills, the rector stated:
“If the situation does not change, in two or three months the UBA could close.”
On the other hand, Gelpi highlighted that the UBA “is part
of the elite 1% of universities around the world
.” We are, according to international rankings, among the most prestigious universities in the world.”
“We are leaders in the region and with extremely more austere budgets than the rest of the higher education institutions. Even so, we have differentiated ourselves and
we are a university of excellence
of which we are proud,” he highlighted.
The rector of the UBA embraces the Hospital de Clínicas
In the midst of questions to the Government for the budget cuts to the universities, this Thursday a symbolic hug to the UBA Hospital de Clínicas kept
traffic on Córdoba Avenue interrupted
.
“Clínicas is much more than a public hospital, the flags of the public university and the values that we have defended since the Reform of 18 are raised here:
academia
, research and university extension are developed here,” Gelpi harangued.
The university authority recalled that the hospital provided services "in the hardest moments of our country." "We were and are a reference for an entire region and we want to continue being that way
. The victims of the AMIA terrorist attack were cared for here,
it had outstanding work during the Covid pandemic and today lives continue to be saved every day," he recalled.
Gelpi also recalled that the Clínicas is
one of the six UBA health centers
that make up the hospital network and where, in 2023, more than
half a million people
will be treated .
"Only here, through the Clinics, more than ten thousand people pass through daily, including patients, professionals, students, researchers. More than 365 thousand consultations are received a year and more than
eight thousand surgeries
are performed ," he detailed.
D.S.