The temporary covid centers will be used to overcome the backlog of attention in the IMSS

Angeles Cruz Martinez

Newspaper La Jornada
Friday June 3, 2022, p. 12

The 22 temporary care centers installed by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) to receive covid-19 patients will be occupied in regular health services. In seven of them, activities are already being carried out to overcome the backlog generated during the health emergency, reported the director of the institution, Zoé Robledo.

He explained that in the next few days activities will begin in several states of the Republic where the units are, which were designed to last long. In Chiapas, Puebla, Coahuila, Sonora, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí and Tijuana, services are already provided to beneficiaries.

The goal is to expand the care capacity of hospitals and help reduce the workload in some areas that have traditionally been saturated.

Temporary care centers were the alternative that was launched, along with temporary hospitals in places that were provided, in order to meet the demand for care for people with covid-19, especially in the second wave of infections, from October 2020 to the first weeks of 2021, when hospital occupancy registered the highest levels.

In a message posted on his Twitter account, Robledo commented yesterday that the annexes to hospitals are ideal for admitting patients with low-complexity diseases, from the areas of internal medicine and general surgery that require minimal laboratory services. Also, for those who are in the process of recovery or need to remain hospitalized in order to be administered some medication.

On another topic, the official recalled that yesterday was the World Day for the Fight against Myasthenia, a disease that is characterized by the weakening of the muscles and mainly affects women between 20 and 40 years old.

Last year, Social Security granted 6,340 specialty consultations for this condition and 790 emergency consultations, and so far in 2022, 1,790 care has been provided.