Paraguay's IPS faces crisis as patients spend millions on unavailable medications

Patients in Paraguay are bearing the brunt of a critical medication shortage at the Institute of Social Security (IPS), forcing many to spend millions of Paraguayan guaraníes on treatments they are entitled to. Chronic and cancer patients, in particular, are left in a desperate situation, either paying exorbitant prices out-of-pocket or resorting to public fundraising efforts like raffles and bake sales.

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The situation at the Institute of Social Security (IPS) has reached a breaking point, leaving thousands of insured individuals in suspense.

The IPS pharmacies reportedly have empty shelves, despite workers and employers diligently making their mandatory monthly contributions. This systemic failure means that the health and lives of contributors are hanging precariously. The scarcity affects a wide range of medical needs, with patients suffering from chronic, autoimmune, oncological, and acute respiratory conditions all reporting the need to fund their own treatments.

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The lack of medication at the IPS is suffocating the insured. Chronic and cancer patients are incurring millions in expenses due to institutional shortages.

One patient, Ana Laura Mendoza, diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, has not received her essential biologic medication, Adalimumab, since May. The commercial cost of this drug is approximately G. 29,500,000, a sum far beyond the reach of an average worker. Similarly, families of a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy reported a complete lack of Leucovorina and Oxaliplatino, crucial drugs for their treatment, with external pharmacies also experiencing stockouts, leaving patients with no viable alternatives.

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This biological drug of high complexity has a prohibitive cost of G. 29,500,000, a figure completely impossible to afford for an average worker, condemning patients to the abrupt interruption of their medical therapy.