A bill proposing to redirect 500 billion guaranis from spending considered superfluous in the national budget to purchase medicines faces its first obstacle in the Paraguayan Senate. The initiative, presented by Senator Gustavo Leite, along with Antonio Barrios and Orlando Penner, provides for the transfer of credits from various central administration agencies to the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare.
Senator Leite argues that the measure, although it does not solve all public health problems, is a clear sign that Congress wishes to assist the Executive Branch. He emphasized that the cuts would affect "dispensable" items, such as snacks, per diems, and other operational expenses, preserving resources for essential areas like the Judiciary, Education, and Foreign Relations. "Medicines are indispensable. One can skip snacks, one can skip traveling, but the most important thing is to include oncology and catastrophic disease medications," the lawmaker explained.
However, the bill has encountered resistance from the president of the Finance and Budget Committee, Silvio 'Beto' Ovelar, also of the Colorado Party. The committee, chaired by Ovelar, did not meet to issue the mandatory opinion on the proposal, resulting in its automatic postponement, even though it had a request for priority on the ordinary session agenda.
The impasse exposes an internal division within the ruling party. Ovelar had previously criticized the initiative publicly, arguing that if there were as many excesses in the budget as Leite claims, all senators who approved it would have been "fools." He questioned the feasibility of "robbing Peter to pay Paul," warning that cuts in other areas could harm public services. "By making such an assessment, he is slapping me in the face back and forth," Ovelar declared in reference to his fellow party member.
The bill establishes that the transferred funds must be used exclusively for the acquisition of new medicines, not for debt payment, and requires the submission of monthly reports to Congress on the use of the funds. The dispute highlights tensions within the governing bloc over public spending priorities at a time of medicine shortages in hospitals.