Kim Groen Bethel University
One guest speaker spoke about the health care system in Mexico, and problems faced by many Mexicans.
We learned about the hierarchy of the hospitals in Mexico. From previous conversations with UNAM students we had learned that the problem with Mexico’s health care system was opposite of the USA in that they had insurance for everybody, but not a quality of services, and this was reflected in the presentation.
What stood out most in the presentation to me was that in Mexico there is an emphasis on the person, in that there are services that seek to understand what is going on in an individual´s life, and how that may contribute to their symptoms. There is a strong push for traditional medicine as well as practice.
The speaker emphasized the importance of seeking feedback from the individuals in which programs are geared toward, because often great programs are designed but unused because it doed not take into account the individuals whom the program was intended for.
There's a big contradiction about Mexican social policies and public health care services and institutions, you can add 50% of poor mexican population and almost 18% in extreme poverty. Health Care System fell many years ago, because it was based on a walfare state idea, but without sustainability. They decided to provide social assistance for everybody, but government had no interest in decreasing poverty through programs like in modern administrations, problem is, that those programs are supported by huge debt, every 6 to 10 years, my country ask for money to World Bank or the IMF. Health Care System doesn't work, because infrastructure and human resources aren't enough, so no matter our hospitals get the best to provide services, because in 1 or 2 years the demand for services increases, and these hospitals or clinics become low quality services. This isn't difficult to understand, and our social policies are actually absurd, because, how a country with generalized poverty can make emphasis on individual's problem? Our government doesn't even take into account Social Work by professionals, there's no support for that, because they can't consider individual intervention (with an impact), the closest thing to that, it's a file in the computer of the SWorker within Public Health Institutions, and that is a lot, believe me, and of course, no follow-up. I think social policy in Mexico it's kind of a joke, the government tries to justify social actions to show that they care. There's no sustaintability, but not because they don't know it, sadly, it's intentionally (among economic theories and administrations). I'm a Social Work student from UPAEP (Puebla), and I'm happy to see the interest in the mexican approach of SW. Congratulations on this blog! : ) If you would like to chat, don't hesitate: saul.rios.b @ hotmail com. Have a nice day!
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