The Covid-19 pandemic forced the Jalisco health authorities to substantially improve services in the sector. In 2019, only 14% of care centers were accredited, that is, they had the infrastructure, equipment, and sufficient personnel to serve patients with quality services; however, at the end of 2021, 62% were already accredited, it is expected that by the end of 2022 it will reach 80% and by 2023 it will reach 100%, reported Fernando Petersen Aranguren.
In an interview, the secretary of Health of the government of that entity explained that, so far, more than 1,600 million pesos have been invested to improve health infrastructure and that figure is expected to reach about 6,000 million pesos for 2024.
The objective is to improve the infrastructure, both primary and highly specialized centers, he emphasized.
On the other hand, he assured that it was a wise decision by the government of Jalisco not to hand over state services to the Institute of Health for Well-being (Insabi) created by the federal government to replace Seguro Popular and that it began operations right at the beginning of the pandemic, in early 2020.
At that time, the state government made the decision to maintain control of the state health services, mainly because the operating rules of the new system were not known. Two years later it has been shown that it was a correct decision, he pointed out.
However, he stressed that the state government is clear that Jalisco is not self-sufficient to cover all the health needs of its population and that it needs the support of the federation, especially to treat high-cost diseases that generate catastrophic expenses to the families
when they occur, so we work with the federal government to join forces.
In this sense, the secretary commented on the federal government’s proposal that now the state health services be added to the IMSS-Wellness program, the characteristics will have to be carefully analyzed, because all the operating rules are not yet in place. .
Therefore, the state government will continue to maintain the stewardship of health services, as long as it does not ensure that the new programs give greater coverage, satisfaction and better health to the people of Jalisco.
He commented that in Jalisco just over 50% of the population is served through social security services such as IMSS and ISSSTE and the rest depends on the public sector and one of the priorities is to advance in the accreditation of services.
Jalisco differed in containment of the pandemic
Petersen Aranguren commented that Jalisco has differentiated itself from other entities and from the federal government in the application of public policies to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, which allowed it to obtain positive results.
He recalled that the identification, since January 2020, of a probable case of Covid in Jalisco motivated preventive measures to be taken, even earlier than in the rest of the country, both for the purchase of supplies and equipment and protection material for professionals. of health in the adequacy of hospitals based on the recommendations made by experts in the field.
He recalled that while Jalisco decreed preventive confinement for 10 days in cities, such as the country’s capital, massive events were held.
In addition, recognizing the health authority represented by the federal government, it also followed the recommendations made by other international authorities on the matter.
Likewise, we understood that it was an extraordinary issue that had to be faced with extraordinary measures listening to academics, scientists and technicians and a Health Table was installed, where the actions to be followed to contain the pandemic are discussed and defined, he continued.
The official reported that the four pillars of the strategy to contain the pandemic were defined. The first was the empowerment of public health service professionals, to be able to identify cases, isolate them, and break the chains of contagion.
The second was the tests. He said that from the very beginning the
The Jalisco government was very clear that it was necessary to carry out tests in order to have reliable information to know what they were facing.
While at the federal level the strategy was to carry them out only to those who showed symptoms of the disease in Jalisco, it was decided to carry them out on a massive scale, through the implementation of the Radar Jalisco system in which education and health institutions from the private sector participated.
The third pillar was to pay attention to the experts, who suggested that it is a virus that is transmitted by air, for which the use of face masks was very important to break the chains of contagion.
The fourth pillar is the therapeutic approach. In that sense, he said that having vaccines has been essential to contain the pandemic.
On the other hand, he explained that the pandemic complicated access to medicines; however, because Jalisco is not a member of Insabi, it makes its own purchases of medicines, which has allowed it not to suffer from some of the shortage problems that occur on a national scale.
He admitted that the level of supply was low at the time of the pandemic, especially for painkillers and muscle relaxants, but currently over 75% of drugs are supplied normally.
He said that two years after the pandemic and with a much lower level of incidence, the priorities are to continue detecting the cases that arise in order to isolate them and vaccinate the greatest number of people to reduce hospitalizations and deaths, recover the consultation postponed due to to the pandemic and return to daily life in health units and improve services.