Health highlights new hospital infrastructure and improvement in services for the population

Asunción, IP Agency.- The Minister of Public Health, María Teresa Barán, highlighted the construction and remodeling of hospital infrastructure that is being carried out nationwide, as well as the reorganization of medical care offered in various hospitals, in order to improve the quality of the services provided to the Paraguayan population.

It was during the management report carried out during the Council of Ministers that was chaired by the President of the Republic, Santiago Peña, at the Government Palace.

Regarding hospital infrastructure, the head of the Ministry of Public Health highlighted that the construction of the Coronel Oviedo Hospital and the Hospital del Sur is about to be completed.

At this point, he expressed his gratitude to members of the Executive who closely accompanied the entire process of purchasing equipment for these two large hospitals.

Regarding the National Hospital, he highlighted the Government’s commitment to changing the history of this reference center, assuming the construction of a new hospital.

At this point he highlighted that they are also working on the repair and maintenance of various areas to improve adequate spaces for patients and health personnel. He mentioned that the Adult Intensive Care Unit, Nephrology, Neonatology, Adult Emergencies and Oncology are currently being repaired.

Before the Council of Ministers he also reported on the construction of new hospitals such as the National Hospital, whose architectural master plan is in the process of completion; while the great Asunción Hospital and the Santani Hospital already have a completed Architectural Master Plan, he added.

Project for a new central Public Health laboratory

The minister also reported on the reduction in the delivery time of pathological anatomy reports; in addition to modernization with the digitization of records and computer systems, as well as the waiting time for radiotherapy and brachytherapy studies.

Regarding the Central Public Health Laboratory, Barán highlighted the visit of a mission of experts hired by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (Koica) last week, within the framework of the process for the construction of a new central laboratory.

He reported that the project is called “Strengthening diagnostic and surveillance capacity for response to the Public Health emergency in Paraguay”, which will be one of the most modern centers that will be available in the south of the country.

Improvements in INCAN and decentralization of chemotherapy treatment

Barán also highlighted great improvements in the National Cancer Institute, where work is being done on the decentralization of chemotherapy treatment.

In that sense, he reported that they are working in a decentralized manner in nine centers, which include the Children of Acosta Ñú Pediatric Hospital; San Pablo Hospital, National Hospital of Itauguá; as well as the Lazos del Sur Hospital in Encarnación, Ciudad del Este Hospital, Pedro Juan Caballero Hospital, Villa Hayes, Military Hospital and Clinic Hospital.

He highlighted that decentralization allowed the increase in the number of patients, which in Incan reaches 1,400 patients treated for chemotherapy and in decentralized centers, 1,500 patients.

Also from Incan, 200,000 tests for the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) were acquired, which is the main cause of cervical cancer.

He also reported that they are working to make early and early diagnosis of cervical cancer, to improve access and, above all, early diagnosis of cancer, he emphasized.

Decentralization of services in the country

The minister reported that there are 937 Family Health Units and maintained that to improve the care coverage of the different districts, various strategies are being worked on, especially focusing on the 22 districts prioritized to improve the entire network. of health.

He added that they will analyze the existing gaps in these 22 districts of the seven departments, in order to improve and work in a coordinated manner.

Regarding health services and networks, the Minister of Public Health mentioned a reconfiguration for the short and medium term, which includes a total of 1,434 health services at different levels.

He emphasized that they currently have 400 health services that are implementing the HIS, in addition to 32 nighttime outreach services, in which more than 200,000 nighttime consultations were registered, which is why he considered this management to be a complete success.

Likewise, 800 surgeries were performed at the Military Hospital and 1,800 surgical marathon surgeries nationwide.

Meeting of Mercosur Health Ministers

At another time, he announced that on June 14 the meeting of Mercosur Health Ministers will be held, which is practically organized.

For this event he announced that the visit of the director of the Pan American Health Organization, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, who has already confirmed his presence, is planned, he added.