Open with shelves and half-spaces

The MegaPharmacy of Wellbeing was inaugurated this Friday with great enthusiasm from the officials and enthusiasm of the people present as guests. However, this was once again a half-hearted implementation, with promises that it would soon work for the benefit of Mexicans and the shortage would end.

The megapharmacy in Huehuetoca, in the state of Mexico, announced and described in the voice of the President as “probably the largest in the world”, began to operate with 18 thousand pieces of medicines, which together barely fit on some shelves. Used to fill. The spaces on campus that still look vast and empty.

The megapharmacy, inaugurated by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, aims to deliver any medicines missing in the country’s hospitals or medical centers, but until yesterday there was not a single vehicle explicitly dedicated to transporting medicines.

It was noticeable that the warehouse was not supplied with even 20% of its actual capacity, and saw about twenty employees who would be in charge of receiving the calls, which more than 90 million citizens with social security would receive according to their prescriptions. Will be able to do. It is not filled..

The area covers 45 hectares of land, of which nine are covered. The dry network storage warehouse stands with an extension of 5,500 m, in which living biological materials can be stored at room temperature.

The warehouse, now painted white, conveys a sense of health. It’s cold and feels lonely because, despite its large size, you can barely see a dozen employees; Some are cleaning, some are registering medicines and some are storing them.

The warehouse has six batteries of racks, each with a length of 102 metres, seven heights and five levels, with a load capacity of up to 1,600 kg. However, about 80% of the cabinets look empty.

On the first day of operation of the megapharmacy, entries of 18 thousand medicines were documented, although it is expected to have 1,438 keys, that is, all the medicines in the world.

After the inauguration, the presidency team allowed citizens to view the facilities: “Old man, you are a scoundrel,” one man shouted at the president, while another said: “It will burn Priyanka, let them take Vitacillin.”

The warehouse facilities are already certified by COFEPRICE, they have hygiene measures, a network of fire extinguishers, emergency exits and the entire floor is epoxy, as indicated by international hygiene measures.

In the same location there is an area dedicated to the cold network to store highly specialized medicines and medicines requiring low temperatures; It has eight refrigerators and three mega-freezers, but they are mostly empty.

Similarly, medicines must pass through the control and registration area. Another building houses the Command, Communication, Control and Intelligence Center, which houses a call center with 20 operators who will receive calls from IMSS, ISSSTE and IMSS-Bienstar beneficiaries who cannot get their prescriptions filled. 200 calls were received in the first three hours.

Carolina, one of the telephone operators, reported that in three hours she received requests to fill eight prescriptions from Oaxaca, Chiapas and the state of Mexico.

He explained that their job is to listen to the beneficiary, verify through CURP and ID that he has a medical prescription, verify that the medicine is not available in his clinic, verify its existence in other clinics and hospitals in the same area. Have to search and send it there.

If the medicine is not found, the megapharmacy is requested to send the medicine to the concerned clinic, which should reach within a period of not more than 48 hours.

The rest of the space occupied by the megapharmacy is made up of 197 platforms, of which 97 are for boarding and 98 for receipt. The total storage capacity is 286 million pieces, but 100% of the platforms remained empty by the opening day.

One woman shouted at President López Obrador at the announcement, “We still believe in you, we still think we will have a better Mexico.”

For the president and those working at the Wellbeing megapharmacy, this new strategy represents a complete transformation of the health system in Mexico; However, accomplishing this in reality seems like a huge challenge.