Better, Less Expensive Healthcare/New Raffle

Health sector reports significant savings in the purchase of medicines.Minister of Health Jorge Alcocer highlighted that the government has saved more than MX$11.88 billion (US$597.1 million) on its purchase of medicines and that more than 1 million Mexicans have benefited from the medicines provided by the government. Alcocer said that previous governments did not prioritize the health sector and that it was a corrupt system with only 10 companies receiving 79 percent of public spending on medicines. “Mexico did not buy the best medicines in the world. For neoliberal governments, globalization went as far as their interests allowed. With the current government, we have savings that represent more than 20 percent of the programmed budget and in a single year we will be able to save more than 70 percent of what was saved in the last six-year period."

New contracts for cancer drugs. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador assured that there will be no shortage of medicines for children with cancer since the government has already signed several contracts to guarantee their supply. López Obrador explained that the crisis of raw materials that affected the production of medicines did not affect the procurement of these drugs because they will come from countries that were not affected. "The main countries where we buy cancer drugs are South Korea, Argentina, Cuba and Germany. The drugs are arriving in the country. Yesterday, they sent us photos of (coming) shipments."

New raffle will be used to pay for vaccines and scholarships. López Obrador announced that a new raffle will be held in September for confiscated properties and that the proceeds will be used for the purchase of more vaccines and the payment of scholarships. López Obrador said that the properties include residences and even a box at the Azteca Stadium that some officials held. “We want to give back to the people what was stolen. The budget for vaccines and medicines is guaranteed and we already have it, but even so, what we recover from the raffle will be used (to that end)."

US downgrades Mexico's air safety. López Obrador said that the downgraded air safety rating that the US applied to Mexico will not affect Mexican airlines or the Santa Lucia airport. “It is not a serious problem. They have rules and they impose them on everyone as usually happens in other things, but we should not worry.”

On Tuesday, the FAA downgraded Mexico’s air space rating from Category 1 to Category 2. The agency explained that it had “identified several areas of non-compliance with minimum ICAO safety standards.” The new rating will allow airlines to continue operating existing routes to the US but forbids the creation of new routes. Also, US airlines will be unable to sell tickets under their name in Mexico. Mexico’s National Air Transport Chamber (CANAERO) said this decision will greatly affect the aviation industry in both Mexico and the US.

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