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Government of Mexico opens call for doctors to fill more than 13,000 vacancies

Mexico City, Mexico — Mexico has opened a call for doctors of both foreign and local nationalities to help fill the medical voids around the country. On Tuesday, Zoé Robledo Aburto, the General Director of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) made the announcement during the National Palace press conference.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador led the presentation on the Recruitment and Hiring of Medical Specialists. During the conference, Robledo said that Mexico’s IMSS is lacking in specialized medical professionals, mostly in urban areas, but also in cities.

“We are working to guarantee that health centers, rural medical units, hospitals are in good condition, that there is no lack of doctors, specialists, medications,” he explained adding that healthcare professionals will be offered attractive salaries.

The Government of Mexico began accepting resumes May 24, a process that will last until June 3. Robledo says there are 13,765 vacancies that need to be filled across the country that include internal medicine, medical-surgical emergencies, gynecology and obstetrics, pediatrics and anesthesiology.

“The intention is that everyone is hired because there are resources available for these hirings. We are trying to match the needs of the institutions with the medical specialists who decide to help us in one of these places. The idea is that they fill all 13,765 vacancies,” he said.

Hugo López-Gatell, the Undersecretary of Health explained that Mexico “urgently” needs doctors to fill the country’s deficit, defending the 500 Cuban doctors being hired after receiving local medical personnel backlashes with the announcement.

“Yes, we have the support of the Cuban government to have these personnel, mainly specialized personnel. One very important thing is their willingness to participate where they are most needed, which is in the marginalized areas, in the rural areas far away, outside the capital cities of the states, which is where specialized personnel generally do not go,” he said.

Robledo detailed that the largest needs include 1,753 vacancies for internal medicine, 1,728 surgical emergency physicians, 1,572 gynecologists and obstetrics,1,517 pediatrics and 1,367 anesthesiologists. These specialists, he said, account for 57 percent of the the country’s medial needs.