Street sweepers earn $10,000 a month???

[jorge_]

Basureros

it is true, street sweepers("barrenderos" in castellano) and garbage truck drivers (choferes or conductores) earn around 10000 a month, thats why everyone want to work for garbage companies (cliba, covelia, urbaser).Thas why people doctors,engineers, and other professionals are angry as hell

 

[PhilipDT]

There is too much misinformation here and doctors do not earn the same as streetsweepers. This is a country with one of the best medical systems in the world and many nobel prize winners for their innovations in the medical field.

By the way I rather be in a antiquated Argentinian hospital with staff that care than a cold money hungry one that values profits over the sancity of human life.

I'd rather be in a rich hospital that can afford to pay princely sums to attract the most talented physicians in the entire world rather than a place where they care but all the doctors are of the caliber of having to work for less than $1500 dollars a month.

 

[TravisJames]

Street sweepers, they are the 1%.

 

[chris]

Unless they are fanatic Cristina supporter, doctors do NOT recommend public hospitals over good private hospitals. The Fernandez is adequate for injuries like broken bones but it is one of the BEST public hospitals in the country. I wouldn't want to go there with something critical. I know of many examples I could point to. One is an expat who had a very serious heart attack, was taken to a public hospital in BA where they were limited in what they could do. When an Argentine friend rushed to the hospital and explained that he could pay for the best treatment they told her to rush him to one of the leading private clinics in the city. The doctors were clear that his chance of surviving at the public hospital was poor. He pulled through the surgery and after an extended recovery period in hospital he was able to return home. Had he not been transferred to the private hospital he'd have died. I know many other similar stories. I wonder of some of the advocates of public hospitals would actually go to one if his/her life depended on it and if money were not an issue. Hmm...

 

[starlucia]

and public hospitals in argentina do lack technology and equipment but many of the doctors are top notch.
nestor kirchner was always treated at public hospitals.

Er, and he died from a preventable disease at the young-ish age of 60... not that this was the public hospitals' fault, but still, I wouldn't use him as THE poster child for their caliber of care

A friend of mine is a second-year pathology resident at a private hospital and takes home about 4K a month (which is, sadly, not enough to get by, as she still has to ask her father for financial help some months.) As I understand, she will get a raise next year, but it still seems quite paltry for anyone responsible for diagnosing terminal illnesses and/or courses of possibly invasive treatment.

 

[bebero]

to all of you private hospitals supporters, i really hope you never have anything really serious in argentina.

and the salary of doctors is not set in stone. it depends entirely on what they do, where they work and how good/experienced they are.

 

[williamlew]

I had cancer while living in Buenos Aires and I won't go into details but I needed a very complicated and expensive surgery.
The only place in Argentina that could perform it was the hospital Fernandez. I guess I could have gone back home but it was mad expensive.
They did it for free here (even though I'm not a resident). The doctors and nurses were amazing and I'm forever grateful for they saved my life.

Oh! On a side note: I had gone to la Trinidad when the symptoms started and two different doctors told me to not worry about it.

 

[chris]

That speaks well for the Fernandez and poorly for Trinidad. I am surprised though that there was no private clinic that could help you. Glad you got good treatment and have recovered. I would still prefer one of the better private clinics to any public hospital if I had the choice. That's why people pay out of pocket for health insurance.

 

[ghost]

to all of you private hospitals supporters, i really hope you never have anything really serious in argentina.

and the salary of doctors is not set in stone. it depends entirely on what they do, where they work and how good/experienced they are.

You are more right than you know. My wife is doctor, a specialist also, and she worked a Mayo clinic in the states. She and her colleagues avoid working for the private hospitals because the public hospitals pay and the private hospitals very frequently do not. Even worse, the privates are famous for poor benefits, poor insurance and in many cases working the doctors like slaves and then stiffing them for months of salary. This is reverse logic, but in many cases the young graduates start out at a private hospital and place their name on a very long waiting list at a public hospital.
Thus if you really think that the privates have the cream of the crop you are thinking like a N. American and not an Argentine.
Oh yeah, one more thing, 2 of her team graduated from Cornell, one from Univ. of Buffalo and her from Dartmouth and the rest from UBA and Cordoba.
And yes, doctors do make less than garbage men.
If it wasn't for their private practices they would starve.
So why do people want to become doctors in Argentina..because they want to practice real medicine. Not the paper shuffeling cover your ass, billing code joke that we call medicine in the States.
Here's the sad reality in the States she makes more in 4 days than she makes in AR in a year.

 

[Ashley]

I've heard its around 5,000 + benefits. I don't believe that they should earn less than that but it's a big kick in the teeth when, with years of professional experience and education, I earn less than a garbage man The only way most people can get decent pay in this country is to work for a place with union protection (or a giant multinational, or the govt)...God forbid you have to rely on the government to implement any kind of economic control or pay standard!