Paraguay's Social Security Institute (IPS) approved the implementation of a mandatory digital census for its 90,855 retirees and pensioners. The process, entirely online and at no cost to the IPS, aims to update contact information, addresses, and family group data, as required by Law 430/73. The census will occur in three phases: a pilot from August 24 to 28, technical adjustments from August 31 to September 6, and a mass phase from September 7 to December 7. Initially, the proposal conditioned the payment of the annual bonus (aguinaldo) on participation, but after debate, a non-coercive monitoring approach was chosen, with in-person assistance available at 73 IPS locations.
Meanwhile, a serious crisis involving the purchase of modular operating rooms for the IPS Central Hospital continues. The Public Ministry, led by prosecutor Julio Ortiz, conducted an inspection to verify equipment and stalled work related to the contract with the company Neighpart S.A., awarded in 2020 for G. 53 billion and later expanded through addenda. The inspection confirmed the work is completely stalled and that the company mainly supplied air conditioning systems, not the complete structure of the surgical blocks. A critical problem was detected: the location on the seventh floor would not support the weight of the equipment, and an alternative option in the courtyard interferes with existing magnetic resonance machines, whose relocation would cost $750,000.
Nine former IPS officials, including former presidents Vicente Bataglia and Jorge Brítez, have been formally charged with breach of trust, accused of causing patrimonial damage by authorizing payments without the work progressing. The IPS has already disbursed G. 35.657 billion (58% of the contract) to Neighpart. A judge ordered the seizure of assets of the nine defendants as a precautionary measure.
The current IPS president, Isaías Fretes, announced the creation of a technical committee with experts from the IPS, the Public Ministry, the company maintaining the MRI machines, and the Faculty of Engineering of the National University of Asunción (UNA) to analyze the feasibility of continuing the project, but stated categorically that "the IPS will not put one more guaraní" into the contract.
In parallel, a serious situation was exposed during an IPS Council session: 569 contracted nurses receive less than the minimum wage, and there is a high monthly resignation rate in critical areas like ICU, Cardiac Surgery, and Neonatology due to poor pay, worsening the human resources crisis at the institution.