August 28 marked the “Dia del Abuelo” in Mexico, leading politicians across the country to speak, purportedly in earnest, of the importance of caring for the elderly.
Yet senior citizens in Jalisco may well feel the need for less talk and more action, as after years of delays, construction of the state’s geriatric hospital has still yet to begin.
The plan to open a geriatric hospital in Guadalajara was first announced in 2008, but five years later authorities have not even agreed on where it will be or what form it will take.The two main options are either to build an entire hospital dedicated to the care of the elderly, or open a geriatric unit at an existing hospital. Jaime Gonzalez Alvarez, the director of the Jalisco Health Department (SSJ) favors the latter option, which would be more cost effective than the former and would enable his department to take advantage of the existing infrastructure and human resources at the chosen hospital.
Two hospitals have applied to host the new geriatric unit should the decision be taken not to build an entire hospital for the elderly: the “Fray Antonio Alcalde” Guadalajara Civil Hospital in the city center and the Zoquipan Western General Hospital in Zapopan.
President Enrique Peña Nieto pledged his support for the project on March 1 and Gonzalez suggested this week that the federal government would provide funding for the project. Gonzalez estimated that it would cost 700 million pesos to build a new hospital or 200 million to open a geriatric unit at an existing hospital.
Hector Perez Gomez, the director of Guadalajara’s Civil Hospital, said this week that the geriatric unit could be completed by next year at a cost of just 90 million pesos, but complained that the 26 million pesos already allocated by the state government have still not been released in order for work to begin.