A report from the General Audit Office of Buenos Aires (AGCBA, for its acronym in Spanish) indicated that "there is no budget for adult cardiovascular surgery," nor is there an annual plan where physical or financial goals are to be achieved by the City's health centers.

The control body analyzed the five general acute care hospitals where circular and peripheral cardiovascular surgeries are performed: Argerich, Durand, Fernández, Santojanni and Rivadavia. The study, approved in November 2008, indicates that the centers fail to meet the demands of patients for the deficits that are recorded in the facilities, the instruments and the appointment of the staff.

In the Argerich, for example, they receive patients derived from the other three centers that are able to perform central surgeries, Santojanni, Durand and Fernandez. This causes that the demand that enters of urgency overlaps with the scheduled interventions, which must be postponed for lack of recovery beds. According to the AGCBA, at the time of the report the Hospital had "only one nurse every three or four beds" when each patient requires a permanent nurse. In addition, "12 years ago" that staff profusion and circulatory assistance "works without designation, does not have ART coverage or regulatory licenses and charges their assets as a substitute on duty." At the headquarters there are 20 hospital beds for critical care that "are insufficient to meet the demand," said the Audit, adding that "it is frequent" that the patients to be intervened are interned to ensure a bed, even without Have a certain date of surgery.

Meanwhile, at Durand Hospital central interventions are always programmed because "there is not enough staff to deal with emergencies." In fact, three or four scheduled operations per week are performed and service professionals are "insufficient for the two operating theaters (which are available over the four that the Hospital has) to function simultaneously," the AGCBA said. The center's cardiovascular recovery room has five beds, four of which work, although only two are equipped with monitoring equipment and the other two are used as common inpatient beds.

Durand is the only hospital to perform emergency vascular interventions, but the portable radiology equipment it uses, known as a C-arm, "is old and not specific for surgeries because it does not record images or sequences," and does more Of a year that do not have ecodopler. Also, the center of Caballito is also unique for another matter: it is that the recovery room is on the seventh floor, which can only be accessed by stairs. And since the service does not have administrative staff, the Hospital does not keep a written record of the patients who are on the waiting list.

The Cardiothoracic surgery unit of the Hospital Fernández was formed in May 2005 and, according to the control body, suffered "frequent suspensions in its benefits that are attributed to the irregular contractual situation" of surgeons, assistants, anesthesiologists and perfusion technicians. As for the equipment of the Fernandez, the cardiopulmonary bypass pump they used was provided by the Argerich, the aortic counter pulsation balloon is on loan, there is a tender in progress to have a heat exchanger and "there is only one complete set of delicate instruments for coronary surgery, "said the Audit.

At Santojanni Hospital, the service functions "as a working group" because, according to the control body, there is no formal structure. In fact, there are seven doctors named for the area of ​​cardiovascular recovery that, however, is not enabled due to lack of nurses. Thus, patients recover in the coronary unit "with the consequent limitation of beds for that sector". In addition, the surgical instruments were provided by the professionals of the team and do not belong to the patrimony of Santojanni.

When the AGCBA closed its report, cardiac surgeries were not performed at Rivadavia Hospital "due to lack of equipment." It is that for more than ten years they have not had an extracorporeal circulation pump and, on the other hand, "the power grid that supplied energy at 380 watts was lost for the operation of an angiograph, provided by the Argerich, for errors occurred during the Development of construction works ". The audit also added that "they do not have their own operating room, the central operating rooms are much deteriorated, there are still anesthesiologists", and although there are two hemodynamists, they can only perform intensive care guards "until the technological resources are available for their specific task."