The elected president Javier Milei confirmed to Mario Russo as Minister of Health. He is a cardiologist who coordinator of the Pediatric Cardiopulmonary Transplant Service at the Italian Hospital and then was in charge of the Fleni Coronary Unit since 2001. Originally It was reported that he would take over as secretary and a few minutes later it was established that the health portfolio would continue as a ministry..
Who is Mario Russo
Russo worked at the Polo Sanitario Malvinas Argentinas Hospital, where he launched the Cardiology Service. Furthermore fue Secretary of Health of two municipalities in the Conurbano: San Miguel, between 2009 and 2015; and Morón, between 2015 and 2017. In the first case with Joaquin de la Torre when he was still a Kirchnerist. In the second case, with Ramiro Tagliaferro, of macrism. Precisely, Russo was also Tagliaferro’s Government Secretary.
During the governorship of María Eugenia Vidal he was undersecretary of Coordination of Health Policies and Planning and Health Comptroller of the provincial Ministry of Health. Between 2020 and 2022 he worked as director of Government Affairs at AySA.
Russo gave the note when he was Secretary of Health of Morón, in a fact that ended with the separation of the medical and administrative coordinators of the El Palomar health center. Where a sign had appeared informing staff that they were obliged to report any incident to the police “suspected abortion” of patients. Given this fact, the municipality should have clarified that the poster “does not represent the opinions or health policies of the Municipality of Morón.”
Now it is his turn to be Carla Vizzotti’s successor at the head of a ministry with a strong role in the outgoing government due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. And he was about to be demoted to secretary, the same rank in which the current authorities received him in December 2019.
