Government Maintains Efforts to Implement IMSS-Bienestar

President López Obrador discussed the plans for the healthcare system in his morning press conference. The government expects for IMSS-Bienestar to be operating in 12 federal entities by the end of 2022.

IMSS-Bienestar is already operating in Nayarit, Colima and Tlaxcala, while Baja California Sur, Sonora and Sinaloa will start operations this weekend. According to the president, the health ministry rehabilitated and equipped health centers as well as hospitals, and the medicine supply is at 95 percent. He also mentioned that as part of the operations, the government granted 1,470 positions to medical practitioners that were working under temporary contracts. López Obrador stated that the application of the federalized system IMSS-Bienestar will conclude by 3H23.

Last week, Zoé Robledo, Director, the Mexican Institute of Social Security, reported that 2,067 people have applied for the new vacancies for medical specialists and 419 people had already completed the requirement, of which 273 are foreign doctors. He also mentioned that the issue of Cuban doctors working in Mexico was handled directly by the Cuban health ministry and medical services.

Many of the vacancies open are for positions in rural areas. Chihuahua is one of the federal entities suffering from a low response rate due to its remote locations. In Sinaloa, 300 openings were announced for which contractual and normalized workers will be evaluated to occupy the positions. The openings offered are for general doctors and nurses.

Claudia Sheinbaum also announced that during her administration, 267 health workers obtained permanent positions, some of whom had been working “up to 30 years” under temporary contracts. Thirty-two general doctors, 93 specialists and 142 nurses obtained permanent positions and benefits for their years of service. She confirmed that these actions were taken to incorporate the currently-decentralized IMSS-Bienestar into the public system.

Earlier this year, López Obrador said that there was a shortage of 50,000 doctors in Mexico. The government also announced the hiring of 500 Cuban doctors, which created discontent in the health sector since a great part of health personnel works under temporary contracts. Subsequently, the government opened new positions and said that many were not filled due to their location in rural areas, which are often linked to poverty and violence.