Where the money is argued over

Closing the asylums slipped from 2025 to 2029

The Mental Health Act set 2025 to close asylum establishments. The five-year budget moved the deadline to 2029 and the human rights body warned of “substantive changes” to the law.

Death by dog bites and a court order at the colonies

A patient at the Etchepare colony died after dogs attacked him in 2015. A judge intervened and gave ASSE a deadline to remove the animals and rehouse residents of two wards.

Gastroenteritis outbreak and three deaths at Ceremos

In October 2023 an acute diarrhoea outbreak hit dozens of the 444 residents of the former Etchepare colony and three died. ASSE concluded the deaths were not caused by the outbreak.

The body meant to oversee mental health sat idle for years

Law 19.529 created an unpaid oversight commission. It lacked a full membership from September 2021, and only in June 2026 did the Health Ministry tell parliament it was operating again.

Published figureUS$ 3 millones estimados en 2018 para aplicar la Ley 19.529, más unos $ 100 millones para reformas en el Hospital Vilardebó (El Observador, julio de 2018)

3,300 electroshock sessions with no national clinical guideline

The human rights institution reviewed how electroconvulsive therapy is used in ASSE facilities: no clinical guideline published by the ministry since 2004, consent forms signed by third parties, and cases involving teenagers.

Vilardebó: shifts left uncovered, building compromised

The medical union reported in 2024 that ASSE breached its shift-coverage agreement; in 2025 officials themselves told parliament the building was severely compromised.

Published figure$ 170 millones solicitados por ASSE para salud mental ante la Comisión de Presupuesto de Diputados (la diaria, setiembre de 2025)

Fewer than 7% of providers report their admissions

The human rights institution audited the mandatory reporting system for psychiatric admissions: 909 notices in six months, 80% from Montevideo, and departments from which no data arrives at all.

668 suicides in 2025, and more attempts than the year before

Uruguay fell to 19.16 suicide deaths per 100,000 people, the lowest figure in a decade, but it remains among the highest in the Americas and attempts rose.

How much money the mental health reform actually has

The ministry declared 200 million pesos for mental health, funded 42 community projects with 34 million, and a teachers' union said the school plan “does not even cover 20 psychologists”.

Published figure$ 200 millones declarados por el MSP para ejecutar en salud mental (junio de 2026) y $ 34 millones adjudicados a 42 proyectos comunitarios (julio de 2026)

No dedicated services for adolescents in crisis

A PAHO and UNICEF report and ASSE's own officials describe a system with no services designed specifically for the mental health of children and adolescents.

ASSE bought three accelerators without the software to run them

The 2018 tender left out treatment-planning and dosimetry software, El Observador reported. Two of the three machines went almost five years unused.

Published figureUS$ 3.975.000 por tres aceleradores lineales según El Observador (marzo de 2023); en su nota de diciembre de 2020 el mismo diario consignó US$ 3.750.000 «como surge de la página web de compras estatales»

Court-ordered drugs: US$99 million paid in 2023

The Finance Ministry reported the State paid US$99 million in 2023 on court injunctions for high-priced medicines. Lawsuits rose from 331 in 2018 to 2,219 in 2025, according to PAHO.

Published figureUS$ 99 millones pagados en 2023 por amparos judiciales de medicamentos de alto precio y técnicas contra el MSP (Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas, Rendición de Cuentas 2023)

Court orders Health Ministry to supply Opdualag to virologist Moratorio

Two instances ordered the Ministry to supply a drug that is neither registered in Uruguay nor on the National Therapeutic Formulary. The case distils the whole high-cost drug dispute.

Published figure«varios miles de dólares por mes» según Subrayado; FM Gente situó el valor de mercado del Opdualag en unos US$ 30.000 mensuales

FNR widened cancer coverage and negotiated prices 50% lower

In September 2024 the government added coverage for three new cancers and updated ten other treatments: US$23 million more and some 700 patients a year without litigating.

Published figureUS$ 23 millones de aumento del presupuesto del FNR en el primer año (Presidencia, setiembre de 2024)

Nivolumab and pembrolizumab: coverage that arrived in stages

In 2019 the FNR announced it would add the two immunotherapies most demanded in lawsuits, at first only for melanoma. The broad update came five years later.

Published figure«El costo de ambas medicaciones ronda los 13 mil dólares al mes», según Teledoce en octubre de 2019, citando al diario El País

INCA leased an accelerator and the end of the waiting list was announced

In 2015 ASSE leased the country's second accelerator for ten years and announced there would be no more queue. In 2023 the institute had 20 to 25 patients waiting.

Published figure«El arrendamiento tiene un costo mensual próximo a los 20.000 dólares» por el acelerador lineal del INCA, contrato a diez años (Presidencia y Montevideo Portal, 2015)

The Cancer Commission and the US$16 million in mammographs

Created by law and funded with public money, it buys equipment and keeps the cancer registry. The Health Ministry itself asked it to demonstrate efficacy, efficiency and results.

Published figureUS$ 16 millones invertidos en mamógrafos y capacitación de recursos humanos, cifra acumulada informada en noviembre de 2018

Breast cancer: 2,000 cases and 700 deaths a year in Uruguay

The State added MRI, prostheses and four drugs between 2022 and 2024. The National Academy of Medicine warns that cases are rising among women under 50.

All of the country's PET-CT is done at a single centre

The FNR funds the scan that helps decide whether a cancer treatment continues or changes, but only one centre performs it in Uruguay: CUDIM, with more than 7,000 scans a year.

The international review of cancer control that Uruguay requested

At the Health Ministry's request, experts from the IAEA, PAHO/WHO and IARC toured the cancer system in December 2021. The report is online and its follow-up is not public.

Cardama: the ocean patrol ship contract ended in termination

Uruguay contracted two patrol vessels for €82 million, paid almost €29 million and terminated the deal: the guarantee submitted was, according to the State, fake. The company denies it.

Published figure82 millones de euros el contrato; 28.794.500 euros pagados; más de US$ 35 millones reclamados en la demanda civil

After Cardama: €60 million for three second-hand patrol ships

With no new vessels and almost €29 million paid to a shipyard that never delivered, the government offered €60 million for three British patrol ships built between 2001 and 2003.

Published figure60 millones de euros por tres OPV clase River usadas, unos 20 millones cada una

89 military vehicles worth US$9 million that could not be driven

The Army bought 84 off-roaders and 5 ambulances in 2025; they were held at the border because their engines breached the 2021 air-quality decree.

Published figuremás de US$ 9 millones a valores de 2024 por 84 todoterrenos y 5 ambulancias

The Military Pension Fund: US$583 million a year from general revenue

The armed forces' retirement system is not paid for by its own contributions: in 2025 the State transferred US$583.6 million to it, after US$374 million in 2021.

Published figureUS$ 583,6 millones de asistencia financiera del Estado en 2025 (unos $ 24.239 millones)