Overview

• The upper chamber mustered the required two-thirds, voting 59–7 with 3 abstentions to sustain the pediatric emergency law and 58–7 with 4 abstentions to reinstate university financing.
• The pediatric measure prioritizes budget outlays for pediatric care, orders immediate salary recomposition at least to November 2023 real levels, exempts critical shifts from income tax, and designates Hospital Garrahan as the national reference center.
• The university law updates operating budgets by inflation, sets bimonthly increases for 2024, mandates salary recomposition from December 2023, and requires collective bargaining with monthly adjustments not below official inflation.
• Fiscal notes cited in the debate estimate the pediatric package at 65.6 billion pesos for July–December, while separate budgeting analyses project higher annualized costs; the university plan is estimated at about 0.23% of GDP.
• As senators voted, faculty and health workers in Mar del Plata held open-air classes organized by ADUM with participation from the Soy Garrahan collective to rally support for public health and university funding.