VZCZCXYZ0014
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #0752 1802047
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 292047Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3957
INFO RUCNMER/MERCOSUR COLLECTIVE
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000752 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR OES/IHB - P. MURPHY AND D. WILUSZ 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO SOCI PGOV PREL AMED ELAB AR
 
SUBJECT:  ARGENTINE HEALTH MINISTER RESIGNS JOB MID-PANDEMIC 
 
REF:  BUENOS AIRES 0742 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  Argentine Minister of Health Graciela Ocana has 
resigned the day after the GOA lost big in mid-term legislative 
elections.  Ocana reportedly resigned due to her belief that she was 
not getting the support she needed to combat an ongoing dengue 
crisis that has been partly eclipsed by the recent outbreak of H1N1 
influenza.  She had also indicated to confidantes that she was 
exhausted from doing battle with government-allied labor leader Hugo 
Moyano over health care funds.  Her appointed replacement will take 
office on July 1.  End summary. 
¶2.  (SBU) Minister Ocana, once the darling of President Cristina 
Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK) for her efforts to root out corruption 
and inefficiency in the Ministry of Health, began to encounter 
problems in 2008 after the resignation in July of Cabinet Chief 
Alberto Fernandez, her mentor in the administration.  The next blow 
came with a triple murder related to ephedrine that was traced to a 
political fundraiser and fund manager in her Ministry.  Despite 
pressure from government allies, she managed to have the individual 
fired.  It was the last support she received from government.  Ocana 
was said to heavily rely on her direct relationship with President 
Fernandez de Kirchner to stay in her job.  But she was also waging a 
war for millions of pesos in subsidies for union-run health schemes 
against one of the government's leading allies, Hugo Moyano, the 
head of the General Labor Confederation (CGT), Argentina's largest 
union umbrella group. 
¶3.  (SBU) Ocana was widely criticized during this past austral 
summer's dengue epidemic.  Despite trying to work with Chaco 
province, a center of the outbreak, the Governor and his wife (the 
Provincial Minister of Health) refused to acknowledge the severity 
of the epidemic, thus allowing the disease to spread. (Note: One of 
the nation's top columnists yesterday reported that three defogging 
machines sent to Chaco to kill dengue larvae are being used instead 
to spray cotton fields belonging to political supporters.) 
¶4.  (SBU) Ocana's lack of support was painfully evident last week 
when, in light of a significant increase in influenza cases and 
deaths, her request for a meeting of the H1N1 Crisis Committee to 
discuss prevention measures was postponed by higher-ups.  She also 
faced strong opposition from the Minister of Health of the Province 
of Buenos Aires, Dr. Claudio Zin, who until recently was considered 
the front-runner to be her replacement.  Ocana's recommendation to 
declare a sanitary emergency that would allow health authorities to 
provide additional measures without extensive bureaucratic delays 
and to shut down cinemas and public gathering spaces found no 
support.  She was criticized for her lack of medical and public 
health credentials both within the government and by medical and 
health associations.  Her detractors used her lack of credentials to 
blame her for the "technical problems" that hampered the GOA 
response to both the dengue and H1N1 epidemics.  Her struggle with 
the CGT's Moyano boosted her credentials as an anti-corruption 
crusader, but did not suffice to keep her in office. 
¶5.  (U) The appointment of Dr. Juan Luis Manzur, current Lieutenant 
Governor of the northwestern province of Tucuman, as her replacement 
was announced June 29 by Cabinet Chief Sergio Massa.  Massa said 
Manzur would take office on July 1.  Manzur is a surgeon with a 
Master's degree in Public Health Administration, and has previously 
served as the Vice-Minister of Health for the province of San Luis, 
and the Secretary of Health of La Matanza (population 1.2 million, 
in the province of Buenos Aires), one of the largest public health 
organizations in the country. 
 
¶6.  (U) The H1N1 Crisis Committee is expected to meet June 29 to 
evaluate whether a declaration of a sanitary emergency is indicated. 
 Chief of Cabinet Sergio Massa is scheduled to give a press 
conference after the meeting to provide an update. 
 
Kelly