- Federal authorities insist that there is a shortage of doctors in Mexico.
- Due to the above, it was decided to hire Cuban doctors to work in our country.
- They also point out that there are opportunities and vacancies available but Mexican doctors do not take advantage of them.
Over the last few days there has been a discussion about hiring 500 Cuban doctors to work in Mexico. Since then, opinions of all kinds have been generated regarding the right or wrong of this decision. But although some affirm that in Mexico there is not a lack of doctors but opportunities, the authorities think otherwise. In fact, the head of the Ministry of Health (SSa), Jorge Alcocer, pointed out that the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) has vacancies available.
In that sense, the official supported what was said in the past by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He agrees that Mexico suffers from a shortage of health personnel. He emphasized that only the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) has 2,678 basic positions available for non-family doctors in IMSS-Well-being and IMSS-Ordinary. Of this number, 510 have remained vacant for more than three years.
Do Mexicans despise the available IMSS places?
He explained that Mexican doctors do not want to go to remote placesso it is necessary to resort to contracting abroad to guarantee the right of people to be served in the place where they reside.
He also highlighted that in the last two years the number of certified specialists has decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of recertification, going from 119 to 107.2 per 100,000 inhabitants. While the international recommendation is 230 per 100 thousand.
The head of health in Mexico said that at the beginning of this government a health system with a shortage of health professionalswhich includes medical, specialty and nursing personnel, with a very unequal geographical distribution.
With this in mind, he announced that 13 thousand 725 Undergraduate Internal Medicine (MIP) are in training, as well as nine thousand 042 in the “Benito Juárez” Universities for Welfare -seven thousand 842- and in the University of the Health of Mexico City -1,200-.
Regarding the scholarships administered in health by the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt), between 2019 and 2021, 24,200 were awarded. Of which, 22,689 are national and 1,511 for foreigners.
The origin of the shortage of doctors in Mexico
In detailing the personnel deficit, the Undersecretary for Prevention and Health Promotion, Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez, said that Mexico ranks last among the countries that belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). , in terms of the number of health professionals.
He specified that this situation was the result of the dismantling since the 1980s when the health system was reformed through which the model that displaced public medicine was implemented.
“Seguro Popular complemented that model by separating financing from the provision of services with the intention of accelerating private participation in what was considered the health market. In addition, enrollment in schools decreased; Only in the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) did it go from between six and eight thousand students to only one thousand, of which 250 finished.
This phenomenon caused a reduction in the number of professionals needed. The largest deficit is in specialists, especially for mental health care and pediatric oncology. He explained that of the latter there are less than 20.
Referring to the current situation of the pandemic, López-Gatell Ramírez reported that, in the last three weeks, 31 of the 32 states have had at least one day without deaths or hospitalizations from COVID-19. While Chiapas reaches 56 consecutive days without deaths and Mexico City four.