- 93% of doctors in Mexico consider access to health services as a serious social problem.
- While 80% believe that the quality of health services has decreased in the last five years.
- Finally, 41% feel that the medical community is not doing enough to help address any disparities in treatment based on gender, race, religion, and sexuality.
Today the results of the Report of doctors’ points of view on current social problems: Mexico 2022. The work was prepared by Medscape and had the participation of more than 1,000 doctors from more than 35 specialties.
Within what was obtained was that approximately 6 out of 10 doctors they think that a system that allows universal access (from the federal government) should be, at least in part, responsible for guaranteeing that the Mexican population has health care coverage.
While almost 3 out of 10 doctors consider that each part of the system works, divided into the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), Institute of Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE) and private, however, they believe that public access should be unified. And only 1 in 10 doctors think that the fragmented approach to health is the right approach to health care. In turn, a minority reports that a completely private system is needed.
It should be noted that in 2021 the National Institute of Statistic and Geography (INEGI) released the results of the 2020 Population and Housing Census, in which 26.2% of Mexicans do not have access to public or private health services because they are not affiliated with any health service.
And despite the fact that the majority of the country’s population (73.5%) is affiliated with a public health service, it is important to note that this does not necessarily translate into effective access, since 56% of the population receives medical care. in private sector. While (45%) are beneficiaries of the IMSS, (57%) of the ISSSTE and (29%) of those of other public services, according to the results of the ENSANUT 2020.
They also presented changes in access to health, with the dissolution of Seguro Popular, establishment of INSABI, IMSS Welfare and the opening of places and fields for foreign doctors; in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic causing a great impact on health care.
Therefore, when asking doctors about the quality of services, 80% of doctors believe that the quality of health services has decreased in the last five years and 60% consider that a system that allows universal access is needed, because data from the concluded cases of the statistics of the year 2021 of the Medical Arbitration Commission (CONAMED) reported 2,167 complaints, of which the majority are distributed in the private sector, and within the public sector, mostly in the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS).
Therefore, improving access to health care is an important national priority at this time, with the search for the establishment of universal access to health and the change of access programs for the most vulnerable population.
Likewise, it highlights that 61% of doctors consider that professional medical organizations are not doing enough to address social problems such as social inequality, low purchasing power, lack of supplies or infrastructure, adequate personnel, among other factors.
Of the participants, 41% feel that the medical community is not doing enough to help address any disparities in treatment based on gender, race, religion, sexuality. And, 32% consider that the medical community is doing very little.
It should be noted that other of the main social problems that the doctors mentioned, in addition to access to health, were domestic violence and the war against drug trafficking.
Survey data
Of the participants, 97% are doctors and 3% resident doctors, 61% men, 25% between 55 and 64 years old and 21% over 65 years old, 72% work full time (35 hours or more), 41% work in a hospital and 31% have an individual office practice. The three main states with the highest participation were: Mexico City (26%), Jalisco (10%) and the State of Mexico (10%). The rest of the states had values less than 10%.
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