• SCARCITY: Public hospitals in Mexico’s second-largest city, Guadalajara, are facing shortages of basic medications, due to the acute delay derived from the federal government’s procurement contracts and the transition to a centralized model of public healthcare known as INSABI.
• DEFICIENT: With the metro area population above 5 million, public hospitals in the western state of Jalisco are undergoing medication shortages, including anti-cancer drugs for children. At the Juan I. Menchaca hospital, the doses for the treatment against cancer are deficient.
• EXPENSIVE: “I bought penicillin, paracetamol and some injection boxes that I was asked for. And the most expensive, one (drug) cost me MXN 573 (the equivalent of USD 60),” said María del Rosario Acevedo, whose son is being treated at the Fray Antonio Alcalde hospital in Guadalajara.
• AGREEMENT: Earlier this month, Jalisco was one out of nine states that rejected the López Obrador Administration’s plan to centralize the healthcare system under INSABI. On Thursday, Alfaro said they were working against the clock to reach some agreement with the federal government.
