Ángeles Cruz Martínez
La Jornada newspaper
Tuesday, September 30, 2025, p. 17
In a new attitude, the pharmaceutical industry highlighted the decision of President Claudia Sheinbaum to pay the debt that the federal government has with the suppliers of medicines, healing material and devices, which will be resulted in the next two months, said Guillermo Funes, president of the National Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry (Canifarma).
The entrepreneur considered that although problems of lo-character persist in the delivery of inputs to laboratories of biological and reagents of Mexico (Birmex) and the state warehouses, “the important thing is that there is political will from the highest level and we must see forward with the organization of purchases of the following years.”
Regarding the breaches of contracts indicated by Eduardo Clark, Undersecretary of Sector Integration and Coordination of Medical Care Services, Funes indicated that the list presented last Tuesday, only two companies are part of the Canifarma and, in any case, what corresponds is that each clarify its situation with the authorities and resolve it.
In this regard, Enrique Martínez, director of the Mexico Pharmaceutical Institute commented that breach is a recurring issue in public tenders, and in this case it was complicated by the cancellation of the purchase consolidated last April and the limited times with which the new acquisition exercise was carried out.
To this are added the administrative procedures that suppliers must make to have the raw materials, import permits, review in customs and the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks in order that the products enter the national territory and are delivered to the institutions. For these and other factors, he added, the list of “breach” constantly changes.
Executives participated yesterday in a forum on health care organized by the France Embassy in Mexico.
Guillermo Funes recalled that, in any case, companies and authorities must giving the regulations in the matter.
He insisted on the importance it has because “it had never happened before” that the head of the Executive Power recognized the pending debt with the sector, which most corresponds to IMSS Welfare.
Each case is analyzed at work tables
Since Sheinbaum raised the matter, a work table was installed where each case is already discussed, said the president of Canifarma.
He acknowledged that some problems persist, but the scheme of purchase and delivery of supplies has improved. In this regard, Martínez said that until last August, the progress in deliveries was 60 percent, including the IMSS-white that recorded the largest lag until a few months ago.
He agreed that the 2026 consolidated purchase mechanism must improve from its planning.
