IMSS-Bienestar Expands to Quintana Roo, Tamaulipas

The IMSS performed a diagnostic evaluation in Quintana Roo to settle the state’s incorporation into the IMSS-Bienestar program. The evaluation was made by 50 people that visited 205 first-level units and five second-level general hospitals. 

“We are working together to guarantee Quintana Roo’s population receives quality care,” tweeted Zoé Robledo, General Director, IMSS. 

About 854,000 people in Quintana Roo lack access to social security. The state also lacks healthcare infrastructure, equipment and personnel. “The problem is that if a hospital, despite having all the infrastructure, equipment and supplies, does not have personnel, it becomes a building that does not save lives. Especially when it comes to specialists where we believe there is a big gap that can be covered,” explains Robledo. 

Robledo and state Governor María Lezama signed the New Agreement for the Well-being and Development of Quintana Roo to generate a strategy to transform the current scenario. “This document will be of great importance to generate a strategy to provide free quality medical care with better infrastructure, greater coverage and equipment, as well as qualified medical personnel and the supplies that our state requires,” says Lezama.  

IMSS-Bienestar aims to offer social security to those who are not affiliated to other public institutions, such as IMSS, ISSSTE or ISSFAM. The move is part of a larger effort to bring access to health services to the majority of the Mexican population to guarantee the country’s right to healthcare, which is stated in the reform to Article 4 of the Constitution, as reported by MBN. Through this collaboration, health services will be federalized and will be better suited to assist vulnerable groups, such as indigenous communities. IMSS-Bienestar plans to replace 2,236 pieces of equipment at health centers and hospitals in Mexico thanks to a MX$236 million (US$12.5 million) investment, as reported by MBN. 

Authorities continue their efforts to implement the IMSS-Bienestar program across the country. Today, Robledo visited Tamaulipas to evaluate the needs of its hospital and population. He also signed an agreement with Tamaulipas’s Governor Américo Villareal to expand the IMSS-Bienestar program in the state. Both of them also visited three hospitals to evaluate their facilities.