Speech
Santiago Peña  ·  2026-09-18 16:26

EN VIVO | Conferencia de prensa

With you from the Government Palace, where in just a few moments the new Minister of Health will take the floor. Let's share. If you could cite at least three fundamental projects you wish to carry out at the head of the Ministry of Health, we are listening. Look, I will answer you as a son of the people, as the son of a peasant woman. I was born and I grew up in hospitals. My father developed coloproctology in Paraguay, but he began as a rural doctor. So I grew up in the hallways of the Barrio Grande hospital, today known as Zeballos Cué. I knew the smell of hospitals. I saw suffering patients since my childhood. That has sensitized me in a different way. Growing up in a medical environment gives one a different sensitivity. And I was also fortunate to experience a stage of medicine during my training, where they taught me that the foundation of good medicine is humanism. High-quality public health must reach the furthest corners of the Republic. The President of the Republic has given me, like never before, a budget that will be adequate, that will be my fundamental tool to be able to extend good medicine to the furthest corners of the Republic . The solution for good health in developing countries is not found in curing. It is found in prevention. Therefore, strengthening preventive medicine, development of coloproctology . In the very chapter of my specialty, we are in debt. We are in debt because colon cancer is preventable, and there is still much to do. I give as an example this pathology, which is the leading cause of death from digestive tract cancer in our country. Consequently, the family health units, of which there are more than 1,000 spread throughout the national territory, must be strengthened. Second , we cannot set aside, at the same time , high-level medicine. And I can speak with authority about that high-level medicine, because I was fortunate enough in life to develop an intense university life at an international level, where I not only reached privileged positions, but in that journey, I also gained privileged friends. You don't know how important it is for me to have the most important reference from Argentina here, Dr. Fernando Serra, who took the time to come. Fernando, please, I want them to see you. The presence of this gentleman , who just told me that among all his patients, he forgot one and had to find the perfect excuse to make them wait for him. The presence of this gentleman is the stamp of approval that I have represented my country well. This gentleman is the example of high-level medicine. Paraguayan medicine must continue to progress. So, along with covering the basics, we must keep working on high-level medicine, and that high-level medicine is what allows the occasional patient to prolong their life. In front of my country. Fernando, thank you very much for honoring me with your friendship and for giving me, in your presence, the certification that I knew how to represent my country internationally. The honor is mine. Minister, a question regarding the budget you just mentioned, what is your stance on increasing taxes on tobacco, sugary drinks, and alcohol so that this can be redistributed toward public health? Look, that is a task that must be studied and agreed upon at another level, but I can tell you that what you have cited if not addressed at the prevention level, they will remain in effect and will continue to cause diseases. Yes, doctor, has the impact of what was recently granted in terms of physician salaries on the upcoming budget, mainly the budget for medicines and supplies, been analyzed? And your question, whether there will be an impact on the budget allocated for next year or if it will be affected. What I can tell you with certainty is that 200 million dollars for the INCAM, for next year, just for the purchase of medicines. My concern is control, control over the purchase of those medicines. Because if there is one thing I can assure you, it is that my mindset as a common citizen is to guarantee transparency in the purchase, distribution, and use of those medicines. It's over, it's really over, but will it affect or will it not affect what was just granted, right? Because it is a budgeted issue. My obligation is to save the state money through the rational use of those resources, and God willing, I will achieve it. If Dr. Barán's administration achieved savings of 34 million dollars, I have the obligation to double that amount. We must continue advancing medicine. Through the rational use of those resources, we will be able to acquire cutting-edge medical technology. Liver transplants must return to Paraguay. We thank you for your time. In this way, we shared the press conference of the Minister of Health, Dr. Isaías. He referred, then, to the national government's commitment to continue strengthening the public health system. We return to regular programming.