Doctors Warn Asunción Hospital Resignations Will Hit Patients in Paraguay’s Interior

Doctors in Paraguay’s San Pedro department say the effects of mass resignations in Asunción are already reaching patients far from the capital. Specialist hospitals in the capital serve as referral centers for complex cases that local facilities cannot treat.

Susana García, a pediatrician at Santa Rosa del Aguaray General Hospital, said professionals in the interior increasingly struggle to find places for patients who need transfers. When public hospitals have no availability, doctors may even try to arrange care in private facilities.

“We have patients who need to be transferred, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to get a response,” García said. She also criticized what she described as a lack of sensitivity from national authorities toward the demands of health workers.

The doctors said the problem extends beyond hospitals in Asunción. Patients from San Pedro may need referral to facilities including the Trauma Hospital, Acosta Ñu Pediatric Hospital, the National Hospital of Itauguá or the National Cancer Institute. A shortage of doctors at those centers, they warned, could delay transfers and access to specialized treatment.

Health workers are seeking better infrastructure, sufficient supplies and medicines, improved patient-care conditions and higher pay. They are scheduled to hold an assembly on Thursday and have not ruled out further industrial action if the government provides no concrete response.

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We have patients who need to be transferred, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to get a response.