Cuenca Patient Alliance Calls for Structural Health Measures

A patient alliance used a Cuenca appearance to call for structural changes in Ecuador’s public health system.

The Alianza Nacional por la Salud (ANS) brings together 38 patient organizations. It says the public health network continues to face problems with financing, medicine shortages, payments to providers, and the ability to guarantee care for people with chronic, rare, and catastrophic diseases.

The organization made its statement in Cuenca on August 5, 2026, as part of an effort called “Por el Derecho a la Salud.” Its president, Gustavo Dávila, said the diagnosis is already known but complete solutions are still missing.

The budget gap

The ANS pointed to the Ministry of Public Health’s 2026 operating plan. The plan requires USD 497.9 million for medicine purchases this year, while the assigned budget reaches USD 202.9 million. The reported difference is a 59% gap.

The figures describe a pressure point behind familiar problems such as shortages, delayed care, and uncertainty for patients who depend on continuous treatment. They do not mean every medicine is unavailable or that every patient experiences the system in the same way. They show why the alliance is asking for planning and transparency rather than short-term responses.

Dialysis providers and continuity

The alliance also raised the state’s debt to private dialysis centers that treat patients referred through the public system. The reported debt is above USD 150 million.

The concern is not only the outstanding amount. Private providers have expressed a willingness to suspend care if payments remain unresolved, which would place additional pressure on patients whose treatment cannot easily be postponed.

The ANS is proposing a national agreement that would bring together the Ministry of Public Health, the IESS, patient organizations, medical groups, academia, and other connected sectors. It wants commitments with responsible parties, deadlines, and follow-up mechanisms.

What residents should watch

The organization is also watching rules connected to cancer and diabetes. Dávila said the alliance expects the regulation for the Cancer Law during the first week of September.

For residents, the practical lesson is to treat healthcare continuity as a system question. Keep copies of prescriptions and records, confirm which provider is responsible for follow-up care, and ask what happens if a medicine or appointment is delayed. The ANS’s proposal is aimed at the system level, but the consequences are felt one patient and one family at a time.