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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Health & Science

Paraguay’s labor dispute with doctors escalates as 133 more physicians resign

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Named sources Ongoing story
  • Another 133 doctors resigned from Paraguayan public hospitals, bringing the reported total this week to 270, although the doctors’ union says the figure may be higher.
  • About 70 pediatric intensive-care specialists were among those resigning, representing roughly 74% of the country’s specialists in that field, according to local media.
  • Doctors are demanding higher pay, hospital supplies and medicines, permanent appointments for temporary staff, and other labor benefits, while the government has proposed salary increases and a new round of negotiations.

Paraguay’s dispute between the government and public-sector doctors intensified on Friday when 133 physicians at hospitals managed by the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare submitted resignations. Local media reported that the total number of resignations this week had reached 270.

ABC Color said the figure came from Public Health Cabinet Chief Juan Marcelo Estigarribia. Sources in the National Medical Union, Sinamed, said the actual number was higher but gave no further details. Around 70 pediatric intensive-care specialists also resigned, representing about 74% of the country’s specialists in that field.

Norma Ruiz, head of pediatric intensive care at the National Hospital of Itauguá in the Central department, warned that the resignations would affect the proper delivery of health services. The resignations do not take effect immediately. Under the law, the Health Ministry must expressly accept them and has 10 working days to respond.

I invite everyone who is once again calling for a strike to come and talk here in the Senate. We will establish a crisis committee.

· Basilio NúñezThe Paraguayan Senate president called for negotiations after doctors rejected the government’s salary proposal.

The doctors are seeking salary increases, supplies and medicines for hospitals, permanent appointments for nearly 9,000 professionals working on temporary contracts, and other labor benefits. Sinamed held a five-day strike last week and agreed on Thursday to another stoppage on Sept. 21 and 22 after rejecting a pay proposal it considered insufficient.

The government offered increases ranging from 500,000 to 4 million guaraníes, or $84 to $671 at current exchange rates. The increases would begin in January 2027 and cover about 10,626 doctors, nearly 90% of the workforce. Senate President Basilio Núñez called on the doctors to enter talks and proposed creating a crisis committee.

“I invite everyone who is once again calling for a strike to come and talk here in the Senate. We will establish a crisis committee,” Núñez told reporters. He said the country could not allow specialists in key areas of public health to resign, while arguing that the state had already offered solutions on hospital supplies, holiday pay and the appointment of nearly 2,400 temporary doctors.

We cannot allow specialists in key areas of Paraguay’s public health system to resign.

· Basilio NúñezNúñez warned about the effect of resignations by doctors in critical public-health specialties.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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