President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has inaugurated a “super-pharmacy”—essentially a huge warehouse full of drugs — that he hopes will alleviate Mexico’s chronic shortage of medications in the public health sector.
The aim of the facility, located in the Estado de Mexico on the outskirts of Mexico City, will be the rapid dispatch of medicines that have run out or are in short supply at public hospitals and health facilities throughout the nation.
Lopez Obrador said the distribution network to be set in place will be highly efficient, promising that medicines will reach every corner of the country within 48 hours. The medicines will be available to all public health care facilities, whether under municipal, state or federal supervision, and include the IMSS and ISSSTE programs.
The president said the facility will be stocked through a centralized system of purchasing medicines directly from pharmaceutical manufacturers—as well as through the World Health Organization—that will eliminate the greedy and corrupt distributors and middlemen who thrived during previous administrations.
Please login or subscribe to view the complete article.