Paraguay nurses protest low wages, demand better conditions

Nurses at the IPS Ingavi hospital in Paraguay have initiated a protest, banging pots and pans to voice their demands for salary equalization and an end to precarious employment conditions. The demonstration centers on the stark pay disparities and inadequate wages faced by contracted healthcare professionals.

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More than 4,300 contracted nurses are receiving salaries that do not even reach the current minimum wage.

Marina Ayala, a licensed nurse, revealed that more than 4,300 contracted nurses are currently earning salaries below the legal minimum wage of G. 3,044,000. These nurses, some with up to 11 years of experience within the institution, reportedly receive only G. 2,700,000 per month. Adding to the grievance, permanent IPS nurses, numbering around 3,300, have not seen a salary adjustment in over 15 years.

The protesters are also calling for an end to precarious labor for the over 11,000 contracted employees at IPS, representing more than 50% of the total workforce. They feel their concerns are being ignored by the authorities, with their demands not appearing to be among the priorities of the social security institute's leadership. Ayala noted that these issues have been raised in previous administrations, yet the situation persists under the current IPS president, Isaías Fretes.

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It is already unsustainable, almost 1,000 have resigned and they will continue to resign. This is a serious situation, the insured will no longer have professionals to attend to them. We are mobilizing for the insured and for the staff.

Ayala issued a stark warning about the potential consequences of the ongoing situation, predicting a negative impact on patient care. She stated that the situation is becoming unsustainable, with nearly 1,000 nurses having already resigned and more expected to leave. This exodus, she explained, will leave insured individuals without adequate professional care. The nurses emphasized that their mobilization is not only for their own benefit but also for the well-being of the patients they serve. Despite meeting with IPS authorities two months prior to request a salary emergency declaration, no working group has yet been formed to address their proposal.

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We have not even formed a working group to analyze the proposal.