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Setbacks affect the health sector

The 2019 budget for the Health Ministry is MXN $652 million higher than in 2018

Children with cancer were affected by the medicine shortage - Photo: Alma Rodríguez/EL UNIVERSAL
03/09/2019 |08:25
Redacción El Universal
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Although insecurity is the federal government 's main challenge, there is another sector that has faced at least 11 alarming situations, including protests and demonstrations for its failure to provide the proper services to society.

Thanks to mistakes attributable to changes made to its daily operation , the health sector has faced setbacks that could have been prevented if the administration had carried out a diagnosis about the way these changes would affect the sector .

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for resident doctors , the lack of drugs for HIV patients or for children with cancer , the lack of resources for the operation of national health institutes, the lack of medicines at clinics , and the resignation of the IMSS director are some of the issues that have put the health sector in the eye of the storm in the last 9 months.

The problem didn't arise from the lack of resources since the 2019 budget for the Health Ministry is MXN $652 million higher than in 2018 but rather, it arose from the way in which problems are being solved and because the administration is trying to generate savings . What has complicated the timely service for users is the delay in certain processes and the expenditure restraint .

It would be untrue to say that the health sector provided quality services in the past but the deficiencies during those years didn't drive large groups to protest because they thought their lives were at risk, as in the case of HIV patients and children with cancer.

Until now, the government and users are trapped in a vicious cycle in which the problem is not solved when the first sign is evident, but rather until those affected organize protests , block roads , and attract attention from the public opinion . Moreover, the government 's first reaction is to deny or dismiss the issue and then take a step back and claim that the problems will be solved.

Officials

from the health sector should put themselves in the position of the patients instead of disqualifying them. The users of health services should not be treated with disdain . Nine months should be enough to move away from the learning curve .

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