Colima Federalizes its Health Sector

Today, Colima’s Governor Indira Vizcaíno announced the state’s incorporation into the IMSS-Bienestar program, which will put the state’s hospitals under the management of the latter. The state is the third to do so, following Tlaxcala and Nayarit.

The agreement was signed by Vizcaíno, Minister of Health Jorge Alcocer, General Director of IMSS Zoé Robledo and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during a morning conference in Nayarit. “We are going to participate in the signing of an agreement to improve the health sector’s rural medical units, as well as health centers and hospitals,” the president said. The move is a part of the larger effort to bring access to health services to the majority of the Mexican population and comply with the country’s right to healthcare stated in the reform of the Fourth Constitutional Article.

The federalization process will place the state’s hospitals under IMSS’s umbrella so the federal and state governments can strengthen health services by working in four areas. The first is infrastructure, as the government is planning to modernize, rehabilitate and equip hospitals starting with those providing first level care. Second, there is a focus on hiring health personnel through a hiring scheme that will transfer health workers to IMSS-Bienestar. The third is the sourcing of medicines and medical material to each unit  by improving supply distribution. Finally, the working conditions of the more than 87,000 workers hired due to the pandemic will be improved, granting them labor continuity. The state is also looking to hire 691 more healthcare employees, including 279 general doctors and specialists and 373 nurses and paramedics.

The agreement also includes efforts to strengthen the security of the state and fight crime. The federal government has already sent over 1,500 federal forces to the state, as Governor Vizcaíno has been working on enforcing security.

“I have always said, and today I reiterate, that public security must be an area where political neutrality rules. All of the political parties and citizens are on the same boat and on that front, anything that is not political neutrality is political malice,” Vizcaíno said, urging representatives of all parties to work together to protect citizens.

The agreement also aims to address travel issues between Colima and Jalisco, Vizcaíno assured, as the government has been able to work past the problems holding back the finalization of the Transvolcanica Highway.