The Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) in Jalisco is struggling to cope with the increase in the number of new subscribers to the national health care system.
Inventive strategies are being implemented to cope with the 60,000 additional citizens registered in 2013 and 2014, says Marcelo Castillero Manzano, the IMSS delegate in Jalisco.
Doctors of diabetic or hypertensive patients that have their conditions under control are now instructed to issue prescriptions covering medication for three months, rather than the one month that has been the norm. According to Castillero, this policy has reduced the number of doctors’ appointments by around 8,000 a month.
Castillero admitted that IMSS lacks funds to construct new clinics to ease the congestion.
One way of doing this has been to schedule Saturday and Sunday appointments at 20 IMSS clinics in Jalisco, including Puerto Vallarta. Castillero hinted that the program will be expanded to other towns and cities in the state.
Each IMSS doctor is responsible for approximately 6,000 patients. Almost 4.8 million people in Jalisco are covered by the inexpensive IMSS health care program that is funded by employers, and the federal government. This represents around 65 percent of the population of the state.