It opened to great fanfare in late December, but in its first four months of operation, the federal government’s Wellbeing Mega-Pharmacy was far from fulfilling its intended function.
In fact, the facility, officially known as the Federal Center for Storage and Distribution of Health Products (Cefedis), reported that between December 29th and April 29th, 341 cases were reported, according to El Universal newspaper, which filed a freedom of information request with the state-run company. He said he only filled a prescription for the drug. Birmex, a medical company that operates pharmacies;
In other words, Mega Pharmacia The warehouse, which supplies medicines directly to public hospitals and clinics as well as private patients, averaged only 2.7 prescriptions per day during its first four months of operation.
This is no small feat for a facility that President Andres Manuel López Obrador has described as “probably the largest pharmacy in the world.”
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the pharmacy in Huehuetca, Mexico, López Obrador said the facility would ensure that “everyone, no matter where they are in the country, rich or not, will have access to the medicines they need.” I can do it.” poor.
When he first proposed creating a “warehouse to store all the world’s medicines in adequate quantities,” he touted it as a “definitive way” to solve drug shortages plaguing governments. did.
what happened?
El Universal reported in late January that Cephedis had inventories representing less than 1% of the medicines it planned to deliver.
Zoe Robredo, director of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), a major healthcare provider, dismissed the report as “malicious” and insisted the giant pharmacy had all the necessary medicines. .
Despite these claims, El Universal newspaper said Tuesday that the facility’s “attempts to resolve the country’s drug shortages” have so far “failed” due to the facility’s own “drug shortages.” It was reported.
The giant pharmacy said it had not purchased any medicines before its establishment, explaining that its stock was supplied on “loan” from IMSS, the State Institute of Workers’ and Social Security (ISSSTE) and the universal health system known as IMSS Bienestar. . .
The paper said the pharmacy giant received more than 95,000 calls in its first four months of operation.
More than 16,000 of those calls were from people who had previously contacted Cephedis to request medication. I hadn’t received my order so they called again to follow up on the request. Data provided by Birmex to El Universal shows that the majority of these people have not yet received the drugs they requested.
According to El Universal, Cephedis was unable to ship drugs requested in more than 27,000 calls because the people requesting the drugs did not have a valid prescription or were unable to provide a CURP ID number. That’s what it means.
Based on Birmex’s data, it seems unlikely that the big pharmacies were able to distribute most of the requested drugs, even if the person making the request had a prescription or CURP number.
Of the 341 prescriptions successfully filled by the facility, 210 were distributed to ISSSTE patients, 129 to IMSS-Bienestar patients, and 2 to IMSS patients.
Vilumex said Cephedis is looking to fill an additional 1,168 prescriptions by sourcing the requested medicines from IMSS, ISSSTE or IMSS-Bienestar.
It is clear that many of the drugs that big pharmacies are required to supply are not being delivered to patients in a timely manner as promised by federal authorities.
“The well-being giant pharmacies are a huge failure. They only fill 2.7 prescriptions a day,” said Marco Cortés, national leader of the National Action Party. wrote on the X social media platform on tuesday.
“That’s López Obrador’s Mexico and the health crisis.” [the federal government] caused. The good news is [opposition presidential candidate] Xoshitl Galvez is coming,” he said.
With reports from el universal
