Cuenca's Main Public Hospital Is Running on Half Its Medicine Supply — Here's What You Need to Know
Chip Moreno
The Numbers Are Alarming
Let's start with the facts.
Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso (HVCM) — Cuenca's main public hospital and the largest in southern Ecuador — is in a budget crisis that's been building for two years:
| Year | Budget |
|---|---|
| 2024 | $49 million |
| 2025 | $42 million (-14%) |
| 2026 (projected) | Under $31 million (-26% from 2025) |
That's a potential drop of $18 million in two years — more than a third of the hospital's operating budget.
What's Actually Happening Inside
This isn't abstract budget math. Here's what doctors and staff are reporting:
- Overall medication inventory: 50-62% of what's needed
- Emergency and neonatology departments: Below 50% medication availability
- Laboratory supplies: Only 38% stocked — critical level
- Bed occupancy: 98% — at saturation
- Neonatology: 21 of 31 beds operational (10 offline)
- Operating rooms: 2 of the surgical units inoperative
- Sterilization: Only 2 of 4 autoclaves working
Specific drugs confirmed in shortage include antibiotics (ampicillin, vancomycin, ceftriaxone, amoxicillin), anticoagulants (enoxaparin), ICU essentials (norepinephrine), diabetes medication (metformin), and even basic children's paracetamol.
Doctors Are Speaking Up
On December 30, emergency department physicians filed a formal notice stating:
"The shortage of medications, medical devices and essential supplies has exceeded the operational tolerance threshold. We face clinical scenarios without the minimum necessary resources, which is unacceptable from sanitary, ethical, and legal standpoints."
Staff report that patients are routinely sent to private pharmacies to buy their own medications — sometimes spending over $150 for a two-day supply of drugs the hospital should be providing. Neonatology staff posted on social media in January requesting donations of gloves and glucose test strips.
One union leader told Expreso: "Patients bring their own supplies and medications from private pharmacies. You see them walking hospital hallways with private pharmacy receipts."
The Scale of This Hospital
To understand why this matters for the region, consider what HVCM handles:
- 700-1,000 outpatient visits daily across 52 specialties
- ~400 emergency visits per day
- 1.4 million residents in its direct service area
- 2.6+ million with referrals from across southern Ecuador
This is the hospital that receives the most complex cases from the entire region. When smaller hospitals and clinics can't handle something, patients come here.
Government Response
The provincial governor held a press conference in January rejecting what he called "anonymous denunciations" and claiming hospitals are "operational with more than 60% of supplies." He mentioned an anticipated budget increase but disclosed no specific amount.
The Ministry of Health declined to comment to multiple media outlets.
Nationally, Ecuador has cycled through five Health Ministers in two years under President Noboa's administration. The country's total health budget dropped from $3.2 billion (2023) to $2.8 billion (2025).
What This Means for Expats
Most expats in Cuenca use private healthcare — clinics like Hospital Santa Inés, Monte Sinaí, or the various specialist practices around the city. If that's your situation, the HVCM crisis doesn't directly affect your day-to-day medical care.
But there are scenarios where it matters:
- Serious emergencies — HVCM is the region's trauma center. A severe car accident or complex emergency may route you here regardless of your insurance.
- Your household employees — if you employ someone in your home, their family likely depends on public healthcare.
- Community impact — a struggling public hospital affects ambulance response times, disease surveillance, and the overall health safety net of the city you live in.
What You Can Do
- Ensure your private health insurance is current — don't let it lapse
- Know your nearest private hospital and have the number saved
- Consider IESS enrollment — even voluntary contributors get access to the public system plus referral networks
- If you want to help: The hospital's neonatology and pediatric units have accepted donations of medical supplies. Contact them directly to ask what's needed.
The Contrast
While HVCM struggles, Cuenca just opened the new Hospital Municipal de El Valle — an $8 million investment with 31 specialties (see our article today). One is a municipal success story; the other is a national budget failure playing out locally. The two stories together tell you a lot about where Ecuador's public health system is right now.
Sources: Expreso, El Mercurio, Primicias
