The Paraguayan government presented a revised salary proposal to public health doctors on Monday, September 7, including planned changes to the base salary and the creation of a pay scale for doctors in the public health system. The offer will still be reviewed by unions and medical societies, and another meeting is expected within 48 hours.
The negotiations bring together representatives from areas including pediatric surgery, neurosurgery, pediatric therapy, anesthesiology, rheumatology and cardiac surgery. Participants included Public Health and Social Welfare Minister María Teresa Barán, Labor Minister Mónica Recalde, and Economy Minister Óscar Lovera.
Roberto Riveros, president of the Paraguayan Society of Pediatric Surgery, said the new version was an improvement over the initial proposal and also included doctors without specialization. “We see that there is openness,” he said after more than two hours of talks.
The doctors are demanding a universal increase of G. 3 million for each 12-hour position. In its first offer, the government had provided for G. 500,000 only for specialized professionals, in addition to a health-care career structure with functional advancement. The new proposal broadens the potential adjustment’s scope, but the final amounts have not yet been disclosed.
The pay scale under discussion takes into account, in addition to seniority, the level of academic training, specialization and the complexity of responsibilities carried out in hospitals. Riveros said the representatives would need to calculate the proposal’s impact before presenting a joint response.
The negotiations come after doctors submitted resignation requests as a form of pressure. More than 200 anesthesiologists submitted resignation letters on Monday. Medical representatives cite 631 requests in total, while the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare counts 270 that have been formalized, a discrepancy that has not yet been clarified.
Minister María Teresa Barán expressed concern that the resignation requests could take effect after the administrative deadlines are met. Before the next meeting with the government, the proposal will be discussed by the medical societies and at an assembly of the National Medical Union (Sinamed).