Obesity will collapse Mexico’s healthcare system

During the inauguration of the XXI International Congress Advances in Medicine of the Hospital Civil de Guadalajara (CIAM) and the VIII International Congress of Nursing (CIENF) at the Guadalajara Expo, the director of the Hospitals of Guadalajara (HCG), Héctor Raúl Pérez Gómez highlighted that, according to the Ministry of Health, obesity and diseases related to it cost $240 billion pesos in 2017, however, they expect those costs to increase to $272 billion pesos in 2023:

“They are going to collapse the health system from the economic and health point of view since, if we consider that the health budget in Mexico is $140 billion pesos and that includes the indirect expenses for incapacity, decrease of the productive life of patients with obesity and metabolic diseases, such as diabetes, we would be facing a real health and economic catastrophe,” said Pérez.

For this reason, it was decided to put at the center of the congresses the theme “Obesity, metabolic diseases and their impact on health systems”, with special emphasis on prevention under the slogan “Let’s change the future of health with prevention”.

Hector Raul emphasized that in Mexico, currently, seven out of 10 adults, four out of 10 adolescents and one in three children are overweight and called for a conjecture with all levels of government, civil society organized and the university and scientific communities with the objective to better the health of the population.

Jaime Andrade Villanueva, Rector of the University Center of Health Sciences (CUCS) of the University of Guadalajara ( UdeG ), stressed that the State is responsible for monitoring this problem, which will generate multiple complications and costs to medium and long terms.

The Secretary of Health of the State, Fernando Petersen Aranguren, stressed that both UdeG and civil hospitals are prepared to work in conjunction with the state government.

At the ceremony, the director of HCG was appointed Ambassador of the Nakawe project, dedicated to the protection of the environment and marine ecosystems.

Also, the “Fray Antonio Alcalde” Awards were presented to the General University Hospital Gregorio Marañón, the priest Alejandro Solalinde Guerra, the Center for Biomedical Research of the West, the Mexican Institute of Social Security and the teacher Esther Cisneros Quirarte, for their humanism and service.