Paraguay
Esperanza Martínez called on Carlos Fretes to ensure his hospital rounds lead to concrete measures
The senator asked that the health minister’s visits be used to set priorities, assemble a team and carry out an intervention plan. She also warned that the tours should not become a staged performance.
Senator Esperanza Martínez questioned the approach behind the rounds announced by Health Minister Carlos Fretes and said those visits to public hospitals must translate into concrete decisions, according to ABC Color.
Fretes had said days earlier that he would resume “surprise” or “taguató” inspections at health centers across the country, a practice he had already used during his time at the Social Security Institute (IPS) to observe how services were operating and listen to patients and workers.
Martínez said the minister needs to make use of those visits to identify priorities and define a roadmap. According to ABC Color, the lawmaker asked that each tour end with intervention proposals and not be limited to simply identifying problems.
She also said that Fretes has resources, but that he must put together a good team, organize his administration and draw up a plan for the first 100 days, the three months and the rest of 2027.
According to ABC Color, the senator warned that if the minister only responds to the problems that reach his desk without an overall strategy, he could become trapped in the accumulation of conflicts without addressing the most critical points in the health system.
Fretes took over the Ministry of Health on September 18, after leaving the presidency of the IPS. Among his first announcements, he included visits to hospitals and communities.
Martínez also said the minister should rely on a technical team to gather information before and after each tour. As an example, she proposed that the three main problems at each hospital be identified and deadlines be set to try to solve them.
The lawmaker insisted that the goal must be to show real progress and not a mere public display of shortcomings. In that context, she recalled President Santiago Peña‘s visit to the National Hospital and said, according to ABC Color, that difficulties in the health system continued after that episode.
In that vein, she mentioned that problems related to oxygen and residents remain unresolved, and stressed that the public expects concrete measures.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
