Paraguay has another daily record of COVID-19 infections as hospital supplies shortage worsens

Paraguay recorded this Wednesday a new record of COVID-19 infections, with 1,341 positives and 21 deaths in 24 hoursannounced the government, on which criticism has been sharpened for lack of inputs in health centers and slowness to get vaccinated for the population.

With these figures, the total number of infections since the first positive on March 7, 2020 stands at 162871 case, while that of the dead at 3,239, reported the Ministry of Health in its daily report.

The country’s health centers are also at their peak., with 1,103 hospitalized, of which 270 remain in intensive care units, while the cured patients amount to 136,366.

The shortage of public hospitals of the country motivated this Wednesday a spontaneous demonstration of nurses and doctors in Asunción in the absence of drugs and medical supplies for people hospitalized for the coronavirus and when the population continues to be vaccinated.

Workers in white from the National Institute of Respiratory and Environmental Diseases (Ineram) marched past the headquarters of the center, the main one in the fight against COVID-19, after its director, Felipe Gonzalez, will present his verbal resignation to the post.

The lack of drugs, mainly those used to keep intubated patients under sedation, has been denounced for several weeks by doctors, which the government attributes to the strong global demand for these drugs.

To this was added the the instability of citizens in the face of the slow administration of vaccines, limited to a shipment of 4,000 doses of Sputnik V reserved for medical personnel in the “front row” of the fight against the coronavirus.

Paraguay is still awaiting a million doses, from Russia, and the 4.3 million agreed through the Covax mechanism of the World Health Organization (WHO), the first shipment of which is scheduled for the middle of this month.

In this context, the chairman of the Liberal Party, the largest opposition party, Efraín AlegreHe said on Wednesday: “We cannot remain silent in the face of so much indignation, in the face of so much suffering in the families”.

And he claimed it happened to “a collapsed health system, without supplies, without drugs, without vaccines“, Not because of the people,” as the government wants to raise it “; but because of “the corruption, inefficiency and uselessness of a rogue government”.

And it is that in March 2020, the government of Mario Abdo Benitez, from the Colorado Conservative Party, got approval for a $ 1.6 billion loan to deal with the coronavirus, but tenders and purchases were marred by allegations of corruption.

The government announced mechanisms for purchasing drugs

The Ministries of Finance and Health of Paraguay communicated the decision to put in place purchasing mechanisms for the supply of medicines, after complaints and pressure from citizens and medical staff in recent days due to the shortage of supplies in health centers.

Despite the urgency with which they made the announcement, late Wednesday afternoon, Neither the Deputy Minister of the Economy, Carmen Marín, nor the Deputy Minister of Health, Julio Rolón, have specified the amount allocated for this purpose..

“Resources are fully guaranteed, available within the budget of the Ministry of HealthMarín stressed during the press conference.

The deputy added that they were working on “simplified procedures“Y”specific mechanisms“So that purchases can be made”As soon as possible“.

For his part, Rolón has defended the management and administration of the Ministry of Health, questioned throughout the pandemic and criticized by much of Paraguayan society in recent days.

“It’s a very difficult situation. It is not that the department is doing nothing, I want it to be clear, the department has been doing what it has to do from the start, ”said the deputy minister.

Rolón assured that this Wednesday they distributed medicines in some hospitals and advanced that throughout the weekend more supplies will arrive.

Too explained that the lack of drugs responds to the strong global demand, with a “low availability” of some of them on international markets.

However, he acknowledged that this difficulty in obtaining medication has generated “gaps“Y”Personal expensesFor the citizens, who in many cases were forced to buy drugs that were lacking in hospitals on their own.

“The assistance will consist of covering the costs that the ministry has to and is not able to do.”Rolón said about the mechanism developed with the Treasury.

Regarding the possibility of regulating drug prices, the deputy health minister said the ministry was not doing “nothing randomAnd in the same way excluded the intervention of existing drugs in the private sector.

“We cannot enter into the logic of kidnapping what is there (…). The purchasing volumes of the Ministry of Health are higher than those of the private sector, ”he said.

(With information from EFE)

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