Tuesday, September 16, 2025

Mexico needs another 255,000 nurses to meet health guidelines

Mexico needs another 255,000 nurses to adequately meet the medical needs of all its citizens, according to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

The United Nations agency recommends six nurses for every 100,000 inhabitants but Mexico currently only has 3.9 nurses per 100,000 people, a total of 475,295 nurses, according to 2015 data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

With 731,223 nurses to attend to a population of approximately 130 million citizens, Mexico would be able to eliminate barriers to access to health care by increasing medical services, the WHO said.

Currently, only Mexico City and Tamaulipas meet the WHO recommendation while Puebla, Querétaro, Veracruz and Michoacán all have fewer than three nurses per 100,000 inhabitants.

The president of the National Nursing Academy said the shortage is not due to a lack of people choosing to pursue a nursing career but rather because there is a lack of positions available in both the public and private health sectors.

“The reality is that there are young people who are interested in studying nursing, there are 700 registered schools . . . What’s happening is that they are not being offered jobs so they can work,” María Alberta García Jiménez said.

She charged that any per-capita nurse-to-population ratio recommendations should be accompanied by petitions to the government to increase the health budget in order to create more nursing positions.

For many nurses who are in employment, the work and pay conditions they face leave a lot to be desired.

A year after graduating as an obstetrics nurse from the School of Nursing and Obstetrics at the National Autonomous University (UNAM), Karen Díaz works six days a week at a private hospital and is, on average, involved in 20 medical procedures per day. Yet she doesn’t receive any employment benefits.

“. . . Salaries are very low. They go from 9,000 pesos to 15,000 pesos [US $475 to $800] a month but you have to accept working six days a week and being on probation for at least two months,” Díaz said.

She explained that she hoped to get a job at a Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) hospital, where benefits and better conditions are offered to nurses.

Source: Excelsiór (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
mural honoring Alicia Matías

A mural at explosion site in CDMX honors Alicia Matías, who died saving her granddaughter

0
The 49-year-old heroine's death has been met with an outpouring of admiration while the nation mourns the 15 victims of last week's gas tanker explosion.
Sheinbaum waving the Mexican flag from the National Palace during the annual Grito de Independencia

In first ‘Grito’ as president, Sheinbaum honors Mexico’s heroines of Independence

5
Josefa Ortiz Téllez Girón, Leona Vicario, Gertrudis Bocanegra and Manuela Molina were all included in Sheinbaum's first presidential Grito, or Cry of Independence.
Culiacan

Threats of violence cancel ‘Grito’ celebrations in Sinaloa and Michoacán 

1
Mexico City's Iztapalapa borough will also forego celebrations out of respect for the deceased and injured in last week's gas explosion.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity