While providing half of the Budget, the Government of the City of Buenos Aires Never Controlled The Garrahan Hospital’s spending
<p style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;"><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Since 1994, the hospital has a Federal category despite being funded equally by the Federal Government and what was then the Municipality. With autonomy, the City Capital did not exercise its oversight function of resources. A work of the Audit of the City asserts that the accounting information from the health center was not on the mind of local investment. In 2007, the City Government spent more than $ 128 million. </span></p> <div> </div>
A report by the Auditor General of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA, for its acronym in Spanish) states that the Buenos Aires Government does not control spending despite it provides half of the Garrahan Hospital’s budget.
The health center was created in 1982 and five years later it was decided that it was to be administered by the National Government and the then Municipality of Buenos Aires. In 1989, Decree 815 upheld an agreement that both pledged equally budgetary resources and, in turn, was appointed to the Court of Auditors of the Nation as the controlling body of the hospital. And while in 1994 the Garrahan acquired the status of "national reference", the funding mechanism remains the same today.
Even though the AGCBA makes it clear that before it went to the hands of the City Government it "was reasonable that the control functions (in the hospital) were exercised by the national public sector body" -first the Court of Auditors and then the Auditor General's Office (AGN, for its acronym in Spanish) later- they argue the Government of the City "did not issue any regulations" to oversee the management of resources and expenditures. "This regulatory gap -the report says- weakens controls and becomes sporadic and optional activity, when it should be routine and mandatory."
The work of the Audit was approved this year on data from 2007. In that year, the Garrahan’s budget totaled $ 256,376,000 and, of that sum, the Buenos Aires government provided $128.188 million, 49.9%.
Beyond the fact that what the City Government provides is not controlled by an agency of the City, the Buenos Aires Audit adds that the accounting information from the hospital is not stated in the account of local investment, a document which, has a chapter dedicated to the financial statements of other entities the Capital has interests in: CEAMSE, Corporación Antiguo Puerto Madero SA, Corporation of the Central Market. In all these cases, the contribution to the budget is 50%.
In addition, the Board of the Garrahan Hospital did not update information. In fact, when the AGCBA finished their fieldwork -in December of last year, "the latest approved audited financial statements for the AGN corresponded to 2003", and in 2004 a new study was in place. The AGCBA highlights that this "significant delay" is recorded even though the statute requires the hospital to approve the accounting within 120 days of completion of a state fiscal year.