Paraguay's Senate to Consider Redirecting Funds from Influencers to Medicine Purchases, Expanding Debt Payments

Paraguay's Senate is set to address the public health system's financial crisis by considering two key legislative proposals. The first initiative seeks to redirect nearly 10 billion Paraguayan guaranis (G. 10.000 million) initially allocated for communication campaigns, digital outreach, institutional events, and influencers. These funds would instead be used for purchasing essential medicines and other hospital services.

The second project focuses on expanding the mechanism for debt assignment, known as factoring. This measure aims to expedite the payment of substantial state obligations to construction companies and suppliers of medical supplies. The Senate's leadership has incorporated both proposals into the agenda for an upcoming session, recognizing their priority in alleviating the current financial strain on public healthcare.

Senator Esperanza Martínez highlighted the urgency of these measures, noting that the factoring proposal has been pending for nearly two months. She explained that the initiative, initially presented by her and other legislators, was later revised in coordination with the ruling party and the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Martínez emphasized that the factoring mechanism should not be limited solely to medicines but should also encompass other critical hospital supplies, such as laboratory reagents, which are currently scarce in many facilities.

Both projects are considered crucial for addressing the ongoing scarcity of medicines, outstanding debts to suppliers, and the potential for protests within the healthcare sector. The Senate's decision to prioritize these initiatives reflects a concerted effort to inject much-needed liquidity into the system and ensure the continued operation of public health services.

“

That it is not only medicines, that it can have some other items, such as laboratory reagents. I know that right now there are no reagents in several hospitals to perform analyses.