Zoé Robledo, Director of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS)

Mexico City, Jan 31 (RHC) The director of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), Zoé Robledo, updated on Tuesday the number of Cuban doctors working in Mexico, which amounts to 552 with 68 who began their activity on January 17.

During President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's morning press conference at the National Palace, Robledo reported on health programs.

Robledo gave an account of the group's work in hospitals in a dozen states, including Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Zacatecas, and Morelos, as well as the numerous specialties they develop, from pediatrics and geriatrics to cardiology, rehabilitation, internal medicine and many more.

Cuban doctors are an important part of a very ambitious national health plan that aims to bring Mexico within a couple of years to the level of medical assistance of Sweden and other European countries, which are very advanced in this field, and completely free of charge, including medicines.

This Cuban participation has also stimulated the incorporation of Mexican general practitioners and specialists into hospitals and health centers in hard-to-reach places that remained for years without even a single professional.

Robledo said that the last call for Mexican professionals was from January 3 to 17 in distant places and the 1,535 general practitioners and some 2,000 nurses responded, which means that all the applicant positions have been filled and in February they will begin to hire them, something that would have been difficult to achieve before.

Regarding the new Cuban doctors, the Morelos press highlighted an act headed by President López Obrador last Sunday at the general hospital Enfermera María de la Luz Delgado, in Temixco, where they welcomed a group of specialists from the Caribbean nation.