The Social Security Institute (IPS) has only 63 ambulances to serve more than 2 million insured individuals across Paraguay, according to the director of the Medical Regulation and Ambulance Management Center (Camips), Andrés Delmás.
Of this total, 13 vehicles are allocated to the central station in Asunción for the capital and the Central department, while the other 50 are distributed across 11 substations in the country's interior. Delmás detailed that, just this past Thursday, 25 ambulances were in the shop for maintenance or repairs due to wear and tear.
"Asunción has a fleet of 13 old ambulances. I have to tell the truth: it's a somewhat aged fleet and today we have seven in operation," stated the director. He emphasized that, despite the reduced and inadequate fleet, the service covers all emergency and urgent requests.
The last ambulance acquisition by the IPS occurred in June 2022, with the purchase of 30 new vehicles. Currently, 28 of them are operational; the other two were involved in serious accidents and are practically unusable.
Delmás explained that the service cannot respond to calls for "social assistance," which includes transporting dialysis patients, completely bedridden patients, those in rehabilitation, or those with post-stroke sequelae. Covering these demands would compromise the capacity to respond to emergencies, which is Camips's primary function.
The central base in Asunción receives between 80 and 100 transport requests per day, which are almost entirely met with the small fleet available in the capital.