By confirming the federalization of the Veracruz health system by the Government of Mexico; the delegate of the State Welfare Secretariat, Manuel Huerta Ladrón de Guevara, indicated that this process is already in the diagnostic stage in all state hospitals, clinics and health centers so that later the IMSS-Well-being will be the body that take care of them.
Manuel Huerta explained that the IMSS Welfare, which is the most solid part that remained following the privatizations that took place fundamentally in the area of health and taking up the spirit of public health as established by the Constitution, today is the institution that can put itself at the forefront of front through coordination with the Institute of Health for Well-being (INSABI).
The federalization seeks to guarantee access to medicines and quality care in all health centers and hospital units that exist in the Entity; At the same time, the working conditions of the personnel who work there are improved and more are hired, given the existing deficit.
“In effect, there is a process of federalization of the health system in several states, it began with Nayarit, and others have followed that have accepted this process, such as Tlaxcala, Sonora, and Veracruz, and it is the Government’s objective that free doctors and medicines “, he claimed.
For this reason, he stated that through the IMSS Welfare, evaluations of the current conditions of the Veracruz health system are being carried out, so that in the remainder of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s six-year term, this objective can be met.
“This process is going to be gradual, it is not a process that takes place overnight,” Huerta Ladrón de Guevara clarified, recalling that it was during the “salinato” era that the Mexican health system was decentralized (and also educational), and the administration of the same was handed over to the States in their respective territories, generating, in his words, that the Governors were “viceroys” and that the privatization of health care in the country was given entry.
Manuel Huerta reiterated that in addition to guaranteeing the payroll to the workers of these hospitals and dispensaries, it is intended to establish the needs that need to be attended to, such as the lack of doctors.
“There is a deficit at the national level of more than 100,000 doctors, who do not exist, the enrollment of young people in these careers is an effort and there will be, what has to be done to have this guarantee and that the doctors reach all communities, especially the most marginalized peoples such as native peoples or peoples far from urban areas,” he added.
He asserted that the IMSS will carry out the entire hiring and basification procedure for health personnel, implying that no one has their labor rights affected, but that offers are already being launched for the recruitment of new health workers.
“The first thing that is done -in the federalization process- is a diagnosis, which I understand is already in the review phase, of analysis in all the hospitals in the State, clinics and others, a complete diagnosis of infrastructure, facilities, personnel and others; and from an agreement that already exists with the State Government, this whole process is already beginning and at the time it will be necessary to talk with all the workers”, considered the official.
Finally, he ruled out that this strategy of applying a single national health policy in states like Veracruz will generate rejection among health personnel, endorsing that there is nothing that will affect them, but on the contrary, “they will be very satisfied of the conditions in which this process is going to take place”.