Fabiola Martinez and Roberto Garduno
Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, March 16, 2022, p. fifteen
When presenting the project Transformation of the health system for the population without social security
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that there are governors who are reluctant to participate in this federalization because they have political commitments with companies that supply the sector.
There are cases where they don’t want to because they have these political commitments with the old companies or the companies that predominated in the neoliberal period, so they want to continue buying from the same companies and they have agreements, there are compromises, but to the extent that the health system, we are going to realize who is not going to participate
he told the press, expressing his confidence that citizens ask for accounts on these agreements.
The plan in the current six-year term seeks to provide comprehensive and free care to some 50 million inhabitants in local and state units that, where appropriate, pass to the IMSS-Wellness administration.
The restructuring will cost some 200 billion pesos, in addition to the regular budgets, according to preliminary calculations by the president.
To date, three entities (Colima, Tlaxcala and Nayarit) have signed agreements to hand over the systems to the federal administration. The study regarding the last state mentioned marks an investment of 1.4 billion pesos and on April 1 the transfer or federalization will begin.
The beneficiaries of Social Security and Issste, among others, will not have changes, it was indicated at the morning press conference.
The President explained that the investment perspective is based on some indicators, such as the annual purchase of medicines for 100 billion pesos, which was previously in the hands of three or four companies linked to the government, companies of politicians or influence peddlers. That is why the campaign so strong against us, using children with cancer
he warned.
The federalization plan becomes relevant now that we feel that we are going out
of the pandemic, the president said.
Specialized attention 365 days a year
The scheme provides permanent care alternatives (every day of the year), specialized and free for the poorest people, the most needy
he pointed.
Jorge Alcocer, Secretary of Health, recalled that this plan was already in place before the pandemic and for this, 80 IMSS-Wellness hospitals were visited in order to study the best route to achieve the goal of having a universal health system. free, equitable and quality.
For his part, the general director of the IMSS, Zoé Robledo, explained the first steps that have already been started to achieve this goal.
Robledo recalled that the oldest antecedent is the IMSS-Coplamar, created in 1979 to serve the population without social security who lived in marginalized areas with difficult access.
Later, in the 1980s, after a process of decentralization of services (when each entity assumed responsibility for supplying them) and after launching other stages of the scheme with different names, the axis is now called IMSS-Well-being.
The lines, he added, are based on improving the infrastructure, the supply of medicines and healing material, as well as regularizing the staff.
Robledo emphasized that both the association of the states and the participation of the workers is voluntary and assured that no one will be fired.
For now, the collection of information cards has already begun in order to identify the status of the systems in each entity. At the moment, 4 thousand 747 units have been registered in 13 states (Baja California Sur, Campeche, Colima, Mexico City, Durango, Michoacán, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Sonora, Sinaloa, Tlaxcala, Veracruz and Zacatecas).
