The Ministry of Public Finance has detected Q200 million that can be injected into the budget of the Ministry of Health, In order to comply with the salary increase to the workers, established in article 140 of Decree 36-2024, General Budget Law of Income and Expenditures of the State for Fiscal Year 2025.
Walter Figueroa, Deputy Minister of Financial Administration, indicated that these funds come “essentially” from economies generated by the budget execution of this year.
“From subexecutions that have been detected we have already located the budgetary spaces, so that, when the Ministry of Health requests it, these budgetary spaces can be provided or transferred,” said Figueroa, when leaving a summons on Monday with Deputy José Chic.
ANDl Ministry of Health has Q600 million to support the proposal of salary increase of Q1 thousand that was presented to the workers on April 1, offer that does not satisfy the expectations of the healthwho have raised as a midpoint an increase of between Q1 thousand 800 and Q2 thousand.
For this reason, the authorities are in negotiations with the different unions to present a counterpart.
With the readjuded in its budget and the funds detected by the Ministry of Finance in other entities, Q800 million would be available for salary increase of health workers.
On the possibility of obtaining more resources for the portfolio, Figueroa does not rule out that there are other budgetary spaces that allow complementing and expanding the Q200 million that, for now, could move to cover the salary adjustment.
He recalled that in previous meetings an increase in the range of Q1 thousand 800 for workers was discussed, which would require approximately Q463 million. To cover that sum, they continue to explore options to obtain resources in other State entities.
In analysis
Juan Carlos Oxom, administrative and financial vice minister of the Ministry of Health, said that They analyze ten proposals presented By various unions, evaluation that cannot be done in a hurried manner, since estimates on the origin of financial resources must be made.
“The Q1 thousand is what the Ministry of Health can grant resigning resources within its own budget and without putting the services at risk. For a major proposal, we would be waiting for the budget support of the Ministry of Finance,” Oxom said in the citation.
During the meeting, he explained that this approach would be retroactive, to cover the period of January to December this yearas established in article 140. He added that, in the coming weeks, he would expect to have a “more formal” and “concrete” proposal to raise it to the technical direction of the budget of the Ministry of Finance.
For his part, Deputy José Chic indicated that four months of 2025 have passed and the healthy ones do not receive the salary increase. Therefore, he noticed as deadline on May 12 for a definitive offer to be presented.
Meanwhile, Figueroa pointed out that negotiations with health workers continue, and that neither the Ministry of Finance nor Health have, at this time, clarity on the additional budgetary space that will be required to support the increase that is agreed with the sector unions.
Support from other ministries
The health portfolio is responsible for assuming the commitment of the salary increase, as established in article 140. However, if the entity is definanced to address this point, the Ministry of Finance and other portfolios must provide resources to support financing and support this payment.
“The Ministry of Finance does not have a fund for unforeseen events, and we have to see the budgetary spaces of all entities to be able to capture them and transfer them to the Ministry of Public Health,” said Figueroa.
He added: “The truth is that we are quite limited, but it all depends on the negotiation that does health. We, initially – as we said in the citation – we have Q200 million detected in budgetary spaces; at this time, that would be our limit.”
The resources offered by the Ministry of Finance are destined exclusively to cover the salary increase for health. The other aspects contemplated in article 140 – such as the reclassification of the personnel, the continuity of the process of transferring temporary contractors to permanent line and the increase in the amount of the studies scholarships for the Medicine career epesists– They must be covered by the Ministry of Health with its own operating budget, according to the Vice Minister of Financial Administration.
The official explained that, once the request from the Ministry of Health was received with the detail of the resources required for the salary increase, finance could be carried out within the period of One week the corresponding procedures to carry out the budget modification.
Protests
The breach of Article 140 provocor that the National Trade Unions of Health Workers of Guatemala (SNTSG) and the National San Juan de Dios took to the streets and block roads in different parts of the country on March 31, on April 2 and 3. The pressure exerted by these actions led the ministerial authorities to sit at a negotiating table with the trade unionists, in order to bring a proposal to their expectations.
However, in that search for consensus, the union of university professionals of the related and collateral health sciences has demanded that their demands are also heard, since – according to have stated – none of the previous groups represents them.