Asunción, November 5 (teleSUR-RHC)-- More than 750 Paraguayan doctors began a 48-hour strike on Wednesday in Asunción to try force a dialogue with authorities after no agreements were reached on key issues for doctors in a meeting earlier this week.

Doctors at Asunción's important Clinics Hospital will only see patients with emergencies during the strike, suspending all consultations and regular hospital visits.

The strike escalates a movement recently launched by doctors to promote solutions to various problems in the health sector, including cases of corruption among officials and other irregularities.     
     
According to spokesperson Lorena Fontclara, the hospital suffers from shortages of medicines and basic supplies such as antibiotics and syringes, due to an apparent lack of follow-through on medical tenders.

Nurses, administrative workers, and other health care providers are also supporting the doctors’ strike. 

The doctors’ strike comes a day after students, teachers, and transit workers went on strike on Tuesday in protest against the right-wing policies of President Horacio Cartes’ government and lack of funding for public institutions.

Last week, a mass mobilization of campesinos from across the country marched in Asunción to demand President Cartes’ resignation and to protest policies that contribute to rural poverty and lack of land.

Amid the wave of protests, diverse social sectors and unions have declared their participation in a general strike planned for Dec. 18 to demand freedom of association and solutions to various labor disputes. 

The mass mobilization will be the second general strike in the two years since the election of President Cartes, who has seen his disapproval rates soar since entering office. 

Organizers hope to create a broad coalition of campesinos, students, unions, neighborhood organizations, and concerned citizens who want to see change in the government’s neo-liberal policies.