January 8, 2020

At Wednesday’s press conference, President Andres Manuel Lopez obrador (AMLO), spoke about Mexico’s new Universal Healthcare system that began on January 1st, and it’s currently in a transitional phase.

AMLO confessed that he received, from the previous far-right neoliberal administration, a system that was completely “putrefied” meaning, it was engulfed by corruption, theft and was practically abandoned.AMLO gave an example of how some government officials and politicians were running pharmacies, selling meds, and profiting from the Healthcare system in several practices of corruption.AMLO explained that in no way the right to education and Healthcare should be vilified and considered a populist movement, but instead should be considered what it is: a human right. He compared the right to Healthcare given from birth until death in the Nordic countries such as Denmark and Norway. Hence he cracked a joke by saying the government leaders of those countries, therefore, are populists.In a recent Bloomberg article, a journalist explains that she “has seen people die” in public healthcare systems, trying to predict what Mexico’s new universal healthcare system is going to be. Yet, how come in the public Healthcare Systems in Canada, Norway, Denmark and all the Nordic countries people are not dying?

Mexico’s #Amlo wants to overhaul the public healthcare system. If he can do this it would save lives. I’ve seen people die in public hospitals for lack of medical attention. I’ve seen power go out in a hospital here in Mexico City with no backup generator https://t.co/xTGnJ8GUdk

— Nacha Cattan (@nncattan) December 14, 2018

The difference between an effective public system vs an ineffective one is depicted by one variable they all seem to have in common, and that is, a government that does not tolerate corruption versus one that does. AMLO’s crackdown on corruption has made the president the center of attention, worldwide. Within only 6 months, he effectively ended the corrosive oil and gas theft that was destroying the energy sector in Mexico, and its public company Pemex.

An impressive endeavor that experts predicted he could not accomplish.The president explained that two of his biggest challenges now are reducing the violence in Mexico and tackling the corruption in the Healthcare System.Recently, four pharmaceutical distribution companies that controlled 75% of the medication market, decided to boycott hospitals by stopping the distribution of medications for cancer patients.

The Monopoly these four Corporation had, made it possible for them to blackmail the government.AMLO did not cave in and instead, he ordered a huge cargo of the cancer medication from France, and with the advice of billionaire Bill Gates AMLO arranged to set up a distribution route similar to the one Coca-Cola uses, which provide drinks to very remote rural areas in Mexico.

It’s only been a few months since AMLO took on the healthcare challenge, but based on his record of achieving what he sets his mind on, the predictions seem positive for Mexico’s new healthcare system to achieve maturity in a very short period of time.

At an earlier press conference, the President compared Mexico’s healthcare system challenge to the challenge President Obama had with the United States Healthcare System monopoly and corruption, and the president said, “Not even Obama was able to do it [provide universal healthcare], but we are going to succeed.”Similar articles:

Univeral Healthcare begins in Mexico January 1st announced Health Department