Paraguay Congress debates budget amid doctors’ labor dispute

Paraguay’s Congress began debating the 2027 budget with a mounting dispute between public-sector doctors and President Santiago Peña’s government in the background. The proposed spending plan allocates more money to health, but it does not include funds for the doctors’ general wage demands.

A bicameral commission opened its work on Monday, with Economy Minister Óscar Lovera presenting the main points of the proposal submitted by the executive branch the previous week. Much of the discussion focused on public health funding, especially debts owed to suppliers of medical equipment, supplies and medicines.

The government has acknowledged that the health system’s debt stands at approximately $1.05 billion. Opposition lawmaker Rubén Rubín said the commission needed to know the full amount and asked whether that figure covered only 2025 or also included unpaid bills from 2026.

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The bicameral commission needs to know the total debt.

Lovera did not clarify whether new health-sector debts had accumulated this year. He said the state would pay about $381 million in 36 installments through a debt-factoring operation, including roughly $123 million in 12 payments during 2027. The budget also provides for $862 million in payments to suppliers of medical supplies and medicines.

The Health and Social Welfare Ministry would receive 18.2 trillion guaraníes, or about $3.073 billion at the Central Bank’s current exchange rate. Doctors are also demanding supplies for hospitals, permanent appointments for nearly 9,000 temporary professionals and other benefits. About 270 doctors had resigned by Friday, according to the Health Ministry, and the National Medical Union has called a new strike for Sept. 21 and 22. Budget discussions are expected to continue until mid-November.

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The generalized increase proposed by the doctors is currently impossible for us.