Ministerio de Salud Pública y Bienestar Social

Health surveillance reported no confirmed dengue cases, outbreaks or deaths during the latest three-week period. Suspected-case notifications nevertheless increased in ten regions, including Asunción.

Hospital de Trauma workers are seeking a law specifically for the institution and salary increases in the 2027 budget, as well as permanent status for 42 contract workers and an incentive retirement plan for 10 employees.

Paraguay’s proposed 2027 budget projects a fiscal deficit of 3.9% of GDP, partly concentrated in the payment of overdue debts. Former minister Benigno López criticized it for doing little to expand public-service capacity while putting pressure on investment.

Paraguay expanded rapid HIV testing across the public health network and accelerated the start of antiretroviral treatment: 371,480 tests were conducted in 2025, while 180 people began therapy between November 2025 and August 2026, including 139 in 2026.

Isaías Fretes took over Paraguay’s Health Ministry after political pressure, a doctors’ strike and demands from Horacio Cartes, Lilian Samaniego, Noelia Cabrera and Sinamed directed at María Teresa Barán, promising to expand prevention and Family Health Units, combat misappropriation — “opá la ñemondá,” he said, speaking as “Juan Pueblo” — and bring care to the country’s most remote regions.

An audit by the Comptroller General’s Office estimates a G. 65.5 billion loss in the IPS’s real estate assets between 2023 and 2025, attributed to low returns and occupancy and collection problems, while new surveys point to possible irregularities in land in the Chaco.

Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies approved a bill by Yamil Esgaib amending the Penal Code and providing for sentences of up to 15 years for officials who facilitate the escape of people deprived of their liberty, sending the text to the Senate.

The government and Sinamed reached an agreement providing for increases of up to G. 2 million per employment relationship, 1,500 new appointments in 2027 and US$260 million for medicines and supplies in next year’s budget, but suspending the strike still depends on a medical assembly.

Paraguayan Deputy Minister Saúl Recalde apologized after being filmed holding doctor Freddy Hernán Cantero by the neck at the Ministry of Health and placed his position at the minister’s disposal.

Paraguay’s Central Administration executed ₲46 trillion between January and August 2026, with spending concentrated on salaries, transfers, social programs and health, which received ₲2.1 trillion to settle pharmaceutical obligations and maintain the supply of medicines and medical supplies.

Santiago Peña reshuffled Paraguay’s health leadership, appointing Isaías Fretes as minister and Derlis León as IPS president, while doctors maintain a strike over a salary increase and an audit warns about the concentration of social security funds at Ueno Bank.

Vice President Pedro Alliana backed cutting unnecessary spending in Paraguay’s 2027 budget to meet doctors’ and teachers’ demands, maintained his support for Santiago Peña’s government and said there was unity within the National Republican Association (ANR), also known as the Colorado Party.

An agreement with Paraguay’s Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare withdrew 446 resignation requests and allowed scheduled surgeries to resume, but medical organizations challenged the text and Sinamed maintained its strike for September 21 and 22, 2026, over pay increases and improvements to the system.

Paraguayan specialist doctors withdrew their resignations and suspended participation in the September 21 and 22 strike after reaching an agreement with the Ministry of Health, which provides for negotiations on differentiated salaries for high-complexity fields, still subject to budgetary and legislative approval.

Paraguay’s draft 2027 National General Budget provides $76.5 million to subsidize public transport in Asunción and the metropolitan area, with coverage linked to public borrowing and, according to local reports, bond issuance. Lawmakers question the increase amid continuing service problems.

Documents presented by Óscar Tuma are offered as evidence that Basilio Núñez graduated in medicine from the Universidad Nacional del Nordeste in Argentina and worked as a medical surgeon in the public health system, but they do not demonstrate his alleged specialization in neurosurgery, which Aníbal Filártiga questioned.

Paraguay’s Congress has begun reviewing the 2027 General National Budget, estimated at G. 166.3 trillion and listing health care among its priorities, while the Senate prepares requests for information from the Central Bank about Ueno Bank and lawmakers negotiate doctors’ salary demands.

The Paraguayan government has proposed a salary adjustment and a medical pay scale based on training, specialization, seniority and responsibilities after medical representatives announced 631 resignation requests; the Health Ministry counts 270 formalized cases.

The Paraguayan government has proposed, starting in July 2027, bringing the salaries of contracted doctors in line with those of appointed doctors and paying for holidays worked, but Sinamed considers the offer insufficient and will decide on a new strike at an assembly.

The Older Adults Program will cost US$564 million in 2027, add 30,000 people and reach 406,000 beneficiaries, while about 100,000 will complete enrollment in 2028; Economy and Finance Minister Óscar Lovera also reported that an additional US$200 million is already included in the 2026 budget for medicines and supplies, rejected a general 76% raise for 12,000 doctors for lack of financing, and Rossana González acknowledged much of the data about her two positions with the Ministry of Health, dual employment with the Social Security Institute (IPS), monthly income of about G. 25 million, and alleged care for 37 patients in 2025 and none in 2026, saying she works at San Pablo Hospital, which has 1,200 vulnerable employees.

Paraguay’s 2027 General National Budget bill provides for spending of G. 166.322 trillion, an 11.2% increase and a deficit of up to 3.9% of GDP, but excludes the pay increase demanded by striking doctors, while five babies were transferred after a flea infestation in a neonatal unit in Ciudad del Este.

At least 197 specialist doctors formally submitted resignations in Paraguay after a five-day strike, as patients report shortages of medicines and supplies; the government attributes rejection of a across-the-board raise to fiscal constraints and is considering measures to fill vacancies, regularize 2,390 contracted workers and include US$760 million for medicines and supplies in the 2027 budget proposal, which has not yet been approved. University lecturers are also threatening mobilization, while Eduardo Nakayama proposes eliminating state-paid private insurance to direct US$100 million to US$120 million annually to public health without shifting pressure to the Social Security Institute (IPS), which is facing its own crisis.

Decree No. 6,692, signed by Santiago Peña, authorizes the transfer for consideration of a military property spanning more than 9 hectares at Km 8 in Ciudad del Este to the Ministry of Health to build the Gran Hospital de Alto Paraná. Itaipú will fully finance the physical works, initially planned to have 204 inpatient beds and 56 intensive care beds.

Amid a nationwide doctors’ strike, Paraguay is debating higher taxes on tobacco and other levies to fund health care, while economists and business leaders argue for better public management, less waste and policy predictability to avoid harming investment.