Jorge Brítez, former president of Paraguay’s Social Security Institute (IPS), chose not to testify to the Public Prosecutor’s Office about the failed installation of modular operating rooms at Central Hospital. The case concerns the management of funds and possible responsibility at an institution central to the country’s public healthcare system.
Hospital Central
Pytagua coverage mentioning Hospital Central.
Former IPS president Vicente Bataglia received house arrest for irregular entry into the country, while another former president Jorge Brítez faces a second criminal case for elevator bidding and his lawyer alleges political persecution, and a third, Andrés Gubetich, returned to EBY with high salary and is investigated for fraud, amid a billion-dollar loss case at the institute.
Paraguay's Social Security Institute faces a multifaceted crisis with a mass exodus of doctors, a change in its board, an asset crisis, and a bill to declare a state of emergency, while the government highlights its construction of new hospitals.
Paraguay's Social Security Institute (IPS) is spending more to resume construction of surgical centers at the Central Hospital in Asunción after fraud, million-dollar contract amendments, and three-year delays in the contract with Neighpart S.A., while former managers are investigated for losses to the public treasury.
While Paraguay's Social Security Institute (IPS) approves a mandatory digital census for retirees, the institution faces a crisis with stalled modular operating room construction, which has consumed multimillion-dollar payments and generated lawsuits, and with the allegation that 569 nurses receive less than the minimum wage.
Paraguay's Public Prosecutor's Office has charged nine people, including two former presidents of the IPS, for an alleged embezzlement of 61 billion guaranis related to a never-completed modular operating room project, amid a crisis at the institution where the Comptroller General's Office points to much larger losses and beneficiaries demand broad investigations.
Paraguay's Prosecutor's Office charged nine former IPS employees, including former presidents, for embezzlement of G. 61 billion in a contract for modular operating rooms never installed.
Paraguay's Public Ministry has requested the preventive detention of two former presidents of the Social Security Institute (IPS) and seven other former officials for an alleged diversion of 61 billion guaranis in unfinished works. In separate cases, former mayor Miguel Prieto will stand trial for a simulated purchase during the pandemic, and three people are accused of fraud against Mennonite settlers.
Senator Lilian Samaniego defended the continued tenure of the IPS Board of Directors, while an internal audit contradicted the allegation of financial damage to Banco Atlas in the trust fund case.
IPS began holding Saturday ultrasound marathons to reduce the waiting list and bring forward to this year appointments that were only scheduled for December, January, and February.
IPS President Isaías Fretes discovered hospital equipment valued at $20 million abandoned and unused at the Central Hospital, prompting the opening of audits and the possibility of reports to the Public Ministry for alleged damage to public property.
Senator Rafael Filizzola demanded explanations from IPS president Isaías Fretes over the transfer of billions of guaranis from the social security fund to Ueno bank, which is linked to a former business partner of President Santiago Peña, following the relaxation of rules that reduced financial security requirements for the institution.
The Hospiclean Consortium was reported to the DNCP for paying cleaning workers at the IPS below the legal minimum wage, despite declaring costs of up to G. 9.5 million per worker per month, while the outsourcing contract, signed in November 2024, had a total value of G. 126.9 million.
Mass resignations of professionals in the Neonatology Department at the IPS Central Hospital threaten the continuity of the service. Management is proposing public calls for foreign doctors to fill the vacancies.
The IPS Board of Directors unanimously approved a private godparent sponsorship proposal presented by board member Mirtha Arias to improve the conditions, considered precarious and inhumane, of shelters for relatives of hospitalized patients. A pilot plan will be implemented after discussions with pharmaceutical chambers and the institution's suppliers.