Mexico Decentralizes Health Services

Mexico has begun to shift the provision of health care from central government to its 31 states. 13 billion pesos ($1.72 billion) of federal funds is being transferred to the states on a pro rata basis, with 6 billion pesos to be used for health care provision to year-end, and the rest used for building and modernizing Ministry of Health hospitals, clinics and health centers.

President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon said decentralization will produce "a more flexible structure sensitive to local problems, (and) able to combat local supply shortages and general health problems effectively." There will be less duplication, and clinics will be able to specialize and provide more efficient care to more people. The work of over 103,000 health care staff will now be coordinated by 31 state health directors, and there are also plans for 5,000 extra medical staff.

Health Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuentes denied that states which are now in economic difficulties will be unable to weather the change and operate their own health systems. "Difficult times are often the best opportunity to produce change, assuming each state takes advantage of the fresh influx of federal funds," he said, adding that each state will be empowered "to make its own advances in health care."