Of the 46, which cover eight out of 10 nationals with specialized assistance, they have implemented 81.66 percent of their budget as of September 25, and 15 have spent more than 90 percent on the purchase of medicines, according to the text.
The company described the prospects for six of them in the next three months of the year as critical as they had less than one percent self-sufficiency, he said.
This situation included Roosevelt Hospital and the National Orthopedics and Rehabilitation “Dr. Jorge Von Ahn,” both in the capital; the Department of Totonicapán, the Department of Mazatenango, the Department of National Ernestina García Viuda de Recinos in Jutiapa and the Department of Barillas in Huehuetenango.
Fundesa Health Commission analyst Carmen Salguero warned that although they had exhausted the amount allocated for the purchase of medicines and were able to keep the warehouse supplied, they had invested more than half of the funds in slow and substandard products. Rotation.
For the expert, this shows again and again that the Ministry of Health has to cope with changes in the way it purchases.
Karin Slowing, also an analyst on these issues, pointed to poor planning and that the ministry’s proposed budget was below the population’s actual care needs.
This is a sick society that relies on public health services because it cannot afford the costs of private hospitals, he stressed.
So there is more demand and you have the same or less money to meet it, and on top of that drug prices are high. This combination causes the budget to be exhausted early considering the slowdown increases.
Fundesa predicted that national hospitals would experience a shortage of medicines to meet a season of high demand for healthcare.
He referred to the government’s transition period, for which these restrictions could extend until January and February 2024, since the implementing entities would not receive the planned amount immediately at the beginning of the year, he stressed.
The process of public hearings on Guatemala’s 2024 budget project is progressing in the Congressional Finance Commission (Unicameral) and negotiations are due to conclude on November 30.
At the end of 2022, the legislature approved an amount of 115,443.7 million quetzales (nearly $15 billion) for that year, at the time the highest in history, but increased several times.
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