From the Editorial Office
Newspaper La Jornada
Saturday October 1, 2022, p. 13
The covid-19 pandemic has caused disabling sequelae in countless people who require some type of pulmonary, musculoskeletal, auditory, neurological or ophthalmological rehabilitation; Therefore, it is foreseeable that more and more people need medical attention due to disability, said Carlos Javier Pineda Villaseñor, general director of the National Rehabilitation Institute (INR) Luis Guillermo Ibarra Ibarra.
In a work meeting with the Commission for Attention to Vulnerable Groups of the Chamber of Deputies, the head of the INR specified that in Mexico about 21 million people (16.5 percent of the population) suffer from some kind of disability, so require quality specialized care.
He added that disability is a condition that most people will suffer at some point in their lives, temporarily or permanently, especially given the increase in life expectancy.
The INR is the only agency in the country that provides comprehensive highly specialized rehabilitation services in a hospital complex made up of 13 buildings, eight of which are for medical care in specialties such as orthopedics, rehabilitation, sports medicine, audiology, speech therapy, otorhinolaryngology and attention to serious burns.
The institute has 226 beds, 18 operating rooms and 107 consulting rooms, in addition to intensive care units, in which 352 professionals from the medical area, 1,306 from the paramedical branch and 550 from nursing provide care.
Álvaro Lomelí Rivas, medical director of the INR, indicated that the institute offers diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitation services with the most advanced technology.
He added that legislative work with the allocation of resources is essential for improving health. As an example, he referred to the National Center for Research and Care of Burns, which is the reference institution in Mexico and Latin America.
