A bill proposing to make the provision of basic health services in pharmacies mandatory has sparked intense debate in Paraguay's Congress. The initiative, authored by Deputy Édgar Olmedo (ANR), aims to bring the population closer to preventive health checks but is facing resistance from the pharmaceutical sector.
The proposal stipulates that all licensed pharmacies should provide, free of charge to the user, services such as blood pressure measurement, weight checks, blood glucose measurement with a glucometer, and guidance on healthy habits, framing this as a social responsibility policy.
Before the Technology Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, the Paraguayan Chamber of Pharmacies (Cafapar) expressed serious concerns. The guild's president, Esperanza Garcete, and legal advisor Osmar Báez argued that the bill, in its current form, would transfer to the private sector a responsibility that constitutionally falls to the State.
They emphasized that complying with the bill's requirements, which include performing the procedures with trained personnel and adequate equipment following biosafety standards, would impose significant additional operational costs. This would involve, for example, hiring nurses or other health professionals, a burden considered difficult to absorb, especially for small and medium-sized pharmacies.
Another obstacle pointed out by Cafapar is the shortage of specialized human resources in the country, a problem that already affects public hospitals and health centers. The guild also noted that current legislation already requires each pharmacy to have a chemical pharmacist as a technical manager, and new staffing requirements would further increase the burden on establishments.
Despite the criticism, Cafapar did not entirely reject the spirit of the proposal. Garcete stated that many independent pharmacies already voluntarily perform some basic checks, acting as a first point of consultation, especially in the country's interior. She stressed, however, that this reality of community support should not be turned into a legal obligation that replaces the responsibilities of the public health system.