Paraguay's Social Security Institute (IPS) announced the exclusion of 817 medications and supplies from its institutional vademecum amid a comprehensive audit of rental contracts, purchases, and administrative management. The measure, announced by IPS President Dr. Isaías Fretes, aims to eliminate obsolete products or those without proven medical utility, while reports of shortages persist in social security hospitals and clinics.
“To give you an idea, at first glance there are hundreds of products among medications and supplies that will be taken out of circulation. Medications that were being bought haphazardly,” Fretes said during a vademecum review workshop. According to him, some products remained stored until they expired in the Parque Sanitario warehouses, while patients reported constant shortages of essential medications.
In parallel, Fretes announced a comprehensive audit of IPS properties to make rental income transparent. He seeks to know how many properties IPS owns, where they are located, how much is received for each lease, and who the tenants are. “I want to know if the price matches or not. This has always been a secret,” he stated, questioning the lack of clear information on asset management.
Fretes said he received contradictory reports on rental income. Initially, he was informed of a value considerably higher than the actual one, which raised suspicions about the management of institutional resources. Executive Branch Auditor General Alberto Cabrera highlighted that the work will include verification of property titles, acquisition costs, current contracts, and the relationship between maintenance expenses and rental income.
The audit will also cover the control of medication and medical supply inventory to ensure that deliveries correspond to awarded tenders and have supporting documentation. Meanwhile, IPS faces a serious supply crisis: about 225 medications have reached critical shortage levels in recent weeks, affecting beneficiaries nationwide. The current administration implemented a contingency plan to distribute batches of medications and supplies to regional hospitals and clinics, promising to stabilize the supply of priority medications within three weeks.