One hundred forty-one specialist doctors at the Niños de Acosta Ñu General Pediatric Hospital communicated or submitted resignation letters on Friday, August 28, representing 86% of the institution’s staff. The resignations have not taken effect: the union said it would wait until midnight for a government counteroffer on its salary-adjustment demand. Another account described the situation as threats or intentions to resign.
The notice was sent to director Héctor Castro and covers professionals in endocrinology, rheumatology, ophthalmology, gynecology, pulmonology, gastroenterology, dermatology, allergology, nephrology, infectious diseases, anesthesiology, pediatric surgery and onco-hematology, among other fields. The document also indicates the possible departure of all doctors in the Cystic Fibrosis Program, which cares for children with a complex chronic disease.
The move comes during the national doctors’ strike that began at the start of the week. The profession says it is seeking a salary adjustment that has been pending for more than 14 years. Roberto Riveros, secretary of the Paraguayan Society of Physicians, said the group would wait until midnight for a government counteroffer before making the resignations effective.
Because of the risk of staff departures, hospital management met with department heads to organize a contingency plan starting Monday, according to the account that reported those measures. During the week, services considered essential were maintained, including emergency care, pediatric intensive care and emergency surgeries. There is also concern for patients who are not in emergency situations but depend on consultations, prescriptions and regular medication to prevent their conditions from worsening.
“We are working to assess the situation, as we have throughout this week, ensuring care in essential services and respecting my colleagues’ rights, while also ensuring that children are not left out,” Castro said. He cited children who need prescriptions renewed or continuous treatment maintained and who could end up in an emergency department if follow-up care is interrupted.
The hospital has 46 pediatric intensivists, 33 pediatric cardiologists, 33 pediatric emergency physicians, 23 pediatric surgeons and 10 pediatric neurologists. Diego Gamarra, the intensive-care coordinator, said about 40 intensivists were considering resigning—approximately 90% of the hospital’s intensivists—and that 17 of the 22 specialists at the specialty clinic had expressed the same intention.
Gamarra also said that pediatric surgeons could leave their positions, but the reporting does not confirm 39 resignations. The figure of 39 should not be presented as a confirmed number of people who had resigned. He said Acosta Ñu has nearly half of Paraguay’s pediatric intensivists, increasing the potential impact of a collective departure.
The disagreement between the accounts is material: one source reported that 141 letters had been communicated or submitted, with their effectiveness dependent on a counteroffer, while another described threats and intentions to resign. If the dispute leads to departures, a national pediatric referral center could face disruption, especially in intensive care, complex surgery, chronic-disease follow-up and cystic-fibrosis care.