Health alarm in Paraguay: 431 doctors resign as public hospitals collapse

Paraguay’s public hospitals are losing hundreds of specialist doctors after negotiations with the government broke down, according to figures cited in the report. The resignations have affected services that include pediatric intensive care, neurosurgery and pediatric trauma care.

The crisis has prompted demonstrations by doctors and other health workers, including protests in Capiatá calling for better employment conditions and more staff in public hospitals. The report sharply criticizes the government, saying officials appeared more focused on preserving an image of normality during the World Rally event in Encarnación.

Doctors have worked for more than a decade with frozen salaries, the report says. They also face poor working conditions, shortages of basic supplies and overcrowded hospital corridors. Items named in the account include syringes, gauze, saline and oncology medicines.

The medical unions want the basic salary for 12-hour contracts to rise from 5 million guaraníes to 8 million guaraníes. They argue that the increase would address the loss of purchasing power since 2012. The government’s refusal to meet the demand, along with the lack of concrete responses, led the unions to formalize their resignations.

The first group submitted 197 resignations to the Ministry of Public Health, led by María Teresa Barán. The total included 41 resignations from pediatric intensive care at Hospital Acosta Ñu, 24 from the same service at the National Hospital of Itauguá, 19 from pediatric intensive care at the Trauma Hospital, 12 in Ciudad del Este, six from the Institute of Tropical Medicine, 11 from pediatric cardiac intensive care at Acosta Ñu and 21 from anesthesiology there.