INSABI Begins Recruiting Medical Professionals

INSABI just issued job postings for several medical and nursing staff. The highest payment for some of the positions is about MX$49,000 (US$2,432.67), which is significantly higher than the average wage for these professionals in Mexico.

INSABI’s recruiting process, called “doctors for wellbeing,” is taking place in the municipalities of Chiapas, Colima, Oaxaca and Yucatan. In Chiapas and Yucatan, the institute is looking for management staff for hospitals, with an offered monthly salary of MX$49,000 (US$2,432.67) in both states. Postings for medical staff in Colima and Oaxaca indicate a monthly salary ranging from MX$35,000 (US$1,737.62) to MX$41,000 (US$2,035.50).

A recent study by IMCO found that medicine is the best paid professional career in Mexico, with an average monthly salary of MX$17,846 (US$886). While at the top of the list, Mexican medical professionals face low wages when compared to other countries. “This profession is totally vocational. Doctors in Mexico are not highly paid, at least not compared to other countries and to the cost of the career itself,” shared Misael Uribe, President of Médica Sur, with MBN.

A doctor with a postgraduate education earns about MX$25,000 (US$1,241.16) per month or MX$132 (US$6.55) per hour. A general nurse in the public sector earns around MX$10,000 (US$496.46) and a nursing specialist earns around MX$15,000 (US$744). However, in rural or remote areas of the country medical professionals are paid between MX$300 (US$15.10) and MX$1,000 (US$50.32) less than in urban areas.

According to Medscape, in the US, primary care doctors earn US$20,250 per month, while specialists earn around US$28,833 per month. Nurses earn approximately US$6,108 per month and nursing specialists an average of US$8,853 per month.

Moreover, doctors and nurses in training today face a scenario of vulnerability full of uncertainties as authorities have ignored the great difficulties faced by these professionals, according to a survey carried by Nosotrx. “This vulnerable group is excluded from decision-making processes that affect their personal and professional development; now, with the pandemic, they are left out of life and death decisions,” said the survey.

The problem, according to Eduardo García Luna, Vice Chancellor of Health Sciences, UDEM, is worse in rural or not urban communities, which face a historic shortage of medical professionals. Medical professionals further face “a lack of opportunities to properly develop a life and career in rural areas, as these do not offer economic incentives and opportunities for them and their families to grow,” said García Luna.