Hospitals deny jobs to resident doctors fired by Pemex

Jared Laurels

Newspaper La Jornada
Sunday March 12, 2023, p. 12

The Ministry of Health continues without responding to the demand of the resident doctors of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), who are looking for a space in another institution after the state company dismissed and truncated their training as specialists.

Two weeks ago, Pemex refused to renew the contract of about thirty young doctors without legal justification, only the fact that they participated in the protests to demand full payment of their Christmas bonus last December.

Since the end of February, when they were fired, they have made pilgrimages to various hospitals, even in the provinces, to resume their residence. In most cases we have found empathy and supportbut in others “some discrimination of a few people with comments like ‘here marches are prohibited'”.

Doctors graduated from the National Polytechnic Institute and the National Autonomous University of Mexico have made their tours based on the specialty endorsed by their university institution. In most of the hospitals, the places have already been assigned since the new cycle of residences began on March 1.

However, when they find one of the few spaces to continue their training, the managers require that the Inter-Institutional Commission for the Training of Human Resources for Health (CIFRHS) release the payment of the scholarships because, otherwise, we are in limbosaid those affected, who requested to reserve their name for fear of reprisals.

Octavio, a fictitious name to protect his identity, says that he has visited at least five hospitals, both ISSSTE and IMSS, although in the latter practically all the venues are already full.

desperate search

When meeting with the directors of health institutions, he says, they tell him that, to enter, the hospital must have the budget to pay for his scholarship.

“A hospital can say ‘yes, I accept you’, but they do not determine the budget, the scholarship is released by the commission and it notifies the institution, and it is what is required to continue with our residence in another hospital” , exposes.

Miriam, who saw her second year of residence cut short, points out that she has attended a dozen public hospitals, and where they have accepted her they ask her to have the scholarship, with the exception of private hospitals where she has also sought a place.

He even moved to Guadalajara, in my desperation to say it doesn’t matter if I have to go live in another city, what I want is to finish my residency. In the Civil Hospital of that city he found a place, but he ran into the same problem: “the director of education at the Jalisco level told me that he was willing to support us, but that the whole issue is the scholarship anyway.

Everything leads us to the same thing. The payment of the scholarships to the resident doctors has to be arranged. Among colleagues we have agreed that they accept us, but that is what stops us and what has our hands tiedassures.

On February 26, Pemex sent an email to meet them the next day. Each other learned that their contracts would not be renewed. Those affected were the most active in the movement and they only gave them one letter of no inconvenience.