Emir Olivares and Alonso Urrutia
Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, October 26, 2022, p. 18
Yesterday morning there were some advances in the application of the new health program in the three entities to which President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will travel this weekend to officially start said project.
The head of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), Zoé Robledo, presented the data on the progress in Baja California Sur, Sonora and Sinaloa, which on October 1 joined the project for the federalization of services that began in Nayarit, Tlaxcala and Colima.
In Baja California Sur, he said, there is 59 percent coverage for specialist doctors and 60 percent for general practitioners and nurses; An investment of 309 million pesos is contemplated (132 million for hospital infrastructure and 177 for equipment); meanwhile, there are 99 percent of prescriptions filled with all medications.
In Sonora and Sinaloa, the same figure is registered in coverage of specialists and general practitioners and nurses to provide care: 67 percent in the first case and 50 in the second.
In reference to Sonora, it is intended to invest 732 million pesos (254 for infrastructure and 478 for equipment) and the supply of prescriptions is 94 percent; while in Sinaloa the investment to operate the new health plan will be 601 million pesos (77 million to rehabilitate hospitals and 525 to equip them) and the prescriptions filled are located at 82.8 percent coverage.
As part of the program, the federal government has opened several calls for the hiring of specialists in different branches of medicine. Two weeks ago, one was launched aimed at doctors from other nations, although nationals can also participate.
Regarding this, the head of the IMSS said that there have been 2,533 records of specialists from different parts of the world: Latin America, the United States, Europe and Asia. Of that total, 597 people have completed their initial process (374 foreigners and 223 Mexicans). We evaluate each file to compare it with these available places
.
The Secretary of Health, Jorge Alcocer, affirmed that work is also being done to improve the conditions of doctors in training who carry out either their internship or social service, the number of these, he said, is currently 84,684 human resources in training. in the health sector.
He presented data only from the IMSS, which reflects a salary increase for doctors so far this six-year term, which on average has been 5.97 percent per year.
On his side, President López Obrador pointed out that the goal is to have one of the best public health systems in the world, which he described as big challenge
.
He announced that to close the year there will be six more states, three in November and three in December, although he did not say which ones they are. With this, he specified, 2022 would close with 12 entities already with the IMSS-Wellness project.
