As recommended by PAHO, the Paraguayan Government has on their agenda the development of a National Health Policy, which foresees among its central axes the budgetary investment in the pharmaceutical area and medicines to supply the country’s public system. Within the framework of the actions developed by the Executive Branch, the Ministry of Health, together with PAHO’s National and International Consultants, is working on the process of updating the National Drug Policy, the List of Essential Drugs and the List of Essential Inputs, with the objective of achieving adequate use and equitable access for citizens. The review and updating process is expected to be completed by September 2019. It is expected to be implemented and distributed throughout the country by October of this year.

With the same objective in mind, and in order to implement controls in the drug production, the Government published on February 22nd Decree No. 1324, from which Paraguay establishes the Minimum Contents of the Certificate of Compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices in the Pharmaceutical Area. The measure establishes the requirements to be met by pharmaceutical companies to have certificates of Good Practices, whose authorization will be in charge of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare. The certificate must include the name of the company or trade name, the address of the manufacturing plant and the indication of the compliance with the Good Practices. The parameters of the Good Practices are established in WHO Technical Report Series 908.

Furthermore the Executive Branch is implementing the Law on Comprehensive Care for People with Cancer, enacted last January. The regulation creates a National Advisory Commission, which will be in charge of advising on the elaboration of the National List of Drugs for the treatment of cancer patients and the elaboration of protocols for diagnosis, treatment and the promotion of scientific research. The body, which will be composed of private and public sector representatives, will meet at least four times a year and is expected to be established in the coming months.