The federal government will hire 500 specialized Cuban doctors to provide coverage to marginalized areas. Photo: Courtesy. 

 Abigail Angélica Correa Cisneros 

In response to the ongoing lack of medical personnel and the low participation of Mexican doctors providing service to marginalized areas, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s solution is to hire foreign doctors. Recently, the President informed the public that Mexico will hire 500 Cuban doctors.

According to the President, this is necessary because existing Mexican doctors refuse to provide healthcare in communities in marginalized areas. López Obrador estimated that there is a deficit of 50,000 health professionals. He blames this deficit on the previous administrations and the systemic corruption that prevailed for 36 years resulting in a failure to invest in health and education.

The President’s announcement triggered a wave of criticism from some doctors who attribute the problems to multiple factors, such as «insecurity, the lack of medical equipment in these areas, and the low salary offered to doctors for practicing their profession.» These comments are taken from interviews with doctors and from forums used by doctors.

Data from the National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE) for the second quarter of 2021 show that Mexico has 305,418 doctors, of which 54 percent are men and 46 percent are women. The data also show that of the total, 67 percent are general practitioners and 33 percent are specialists in some branch of medicine. 

Mexican doctors say that there are enough doctors to meet needs, but that many are unemployed because the health system does not hire them. They add that in public hospitals, many are hired as temporary personnel to cover absences or vacations, and so they have no benefits and are also paid a miserable salary. 

Furthermore, they recalled that during the pandemic, they responded to the government’s call to attend to those affected by Covid-19, and the long lines revealed the extent of unemployment in the sector. At the end of the emergency, they were laid off. 

It is interesting to note, however, that data from an analysis conducted externally by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), show that Mexico has just 2.4 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants compared to a worldwide average of 3.4.  Additionally, Mexico has less than a third of the number of nurses and hospital beds per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the average. So, according to the standards of the OECD, Mexico ranks among the lowest countries regarding the ratio of healthcare workers to population. 

Similarly, in terms of remuneration, Mexico is also lacking. For medical personnel, the average pay per hour worked is 122 pesos. Remuneration increases with an increase in level of education: those employed as doctors and who have a bachelor’s degree receive a monthly average of 17,422 pesos; those with a master’s degree receive an average of 21,041 pesos and those with a doctorate receive an average of 26,695 pesos per month.

The Covid-19 pandemic exposed in our country the highest excess mortality among OECD countries, as well as significant disruptions in the provision of other health services: in 2020 the pandemic caused a decrease in health care services and the number of face-to-face medical consultations fell by 9 percent compared to the previous year.

The crisis also highlighted the shortage of healthcare workers and the urgent need to invest more in the coming years to improve primary healthcare and disease prevention, as well as to strengthen the resilience and capacity of healthcare systems.

For 2022, the federal health sector budget increased 14.6 percent, with 824 thousand 181 million pesos allocated. Almost 10 percent (9.1%) of this increase is marked for the IMSS – Bienestar program.  Depending upon which providers of services receive these funds and the efficiency with which the funds are spent, this increase could result in more equitable distribution of federal monies so that both the quality and availability of medical care and services improve for populations living in rural and marginalized areas.

The Center for Economic and Budgetary Research (CIEP) indicated in an analysis that the increase in the Federal health sector budget for 2022 for IMSS – Bienestar needs to result in an increase in the rate of care, and ambulatory and hospital medical assistance services, since these areas have all seen a downward trend starting before the pandemic. Since 2019, part of the decline in these health services has been due to the closure of medical units in urban areas. 

Negative criticisms from Mexican healthcare workers are due to xenophobia and misinformation. The reality is that this support from Cuba, being promoted by our government, is indeed required. The medical care and attention provided by the 700 Cuban doctors who served in our country during the pandemic are evidence that the health of Mexicans living in remote areas will be in good hands, and that this type of collaboration is necessary.

Other important issues, which the government should not neglect, continue to be violence and the lack of opportunities in the country.

From the Center

By the close of 2021, Mexican farmers had achieved production of 268.4 million tons of food from the land, which marked an increase of 1.3 percent over the previous year.  The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that the increase in production was driven by higher yields of grains and oilseeds, used in both industry and as fodder. The Ministry’s report highlighted that the area sown during the agricultural year 2021 constituted 21,584,000 hectares, which generated a production volume with a value of 750,778,000 million pesos; 8.3 percent more compared to the previous year (693,072,000 million pesos).

Translated by Rebecca Zittle