Malvinas War veterans have denounced that the coverage of medicines they receive through PAMI has been reduced. The Malvinas Islands Veterans Centre (CECIM) in La Plata reported that in recent days veterans have had to pay for medicines that were previously covered at 100%.

The situation became public recently when the president of CECIM, Rodolfo Carrizo , ordered the director of PAMI, Esteban Leguizamo , to restore full coverage within 12 hours .

In a letter, Carrizo expresses his concern in a forceful manner: “ Many former conscript soldiers who fought in the Malvinas War have gone to pharmacies to obtain medicines that, until last week, had full coverage, and they have been charged for them .”

The delicate nature of the situation is due to the fact that these are medicines that are crucial for the treatment of conditions linked to the after-effects of the war . “ Many of these medicines are for chronic treatments that are closely related to the war that took place in 1982 (after-effects of war and post-traumatic stress),” explains the expert.

The letter also argues that PAMI “is therefore in flagrant breach of the terms of Resolution 191/05 (National Program for the Care of War Veterans and their Families), which constitutes a regressive action, the scope of which implies a severe violation of the human right to health of a group that is also subject to specific protection .”

As a warning in the absence of a response, Carrizo indicates that " if you persist in this harmful state action, I will resort to the corresponding judicial channels, in addition to initiating criminal proceedings against you, in your capacity as guarantor of the psychological and physical integrity of the people who make up the group of Malvinas ex-combatants ."

Although PAMI stated that ex-combatants would not be included in the recent restrictions , the experiences of veterans contradict this statement . “ Officials say that we are exempt, but that is not what is happening in practice in any pharmacy in Argentina ,” added Ernesto Alonso, Secretary of Human Rights at CECIM.

“ In 2004, the national government created the National Program for the Care of War Veterans and their Families and we had 100% coverage for all medications ,” the representative highlighted, adding that “ when several colleagues went to the pharmacy to get their medications, they told us that coverage was now 60%, 50% and 40% .”

“ There are comrades who take psychiatric, oncological, and diabetes medications… this is genocide. It will have terrible consequences,” Alonso warned. “ Although officials have been saying the opposite in all the media, that we had coverage, this is not happening with any former combatant in all of Argentina .”

The controversy is framed in a broader context, where PAMI , despite having cut drug coverage, reported an increase in its expenses . In the first nine months of 2023, spending reached 4.45 billion pesos , exceeding what was spent the previous year.

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