Drug war victims crowd out regular patients, cause doctors to flee in drug war hot spots
By Margarita Vega
Reforma
The mounting violence in Mexico associated with the country's drug war has created another problem: how to deliver health services to a population that is vulnerable to crime, addiction and depression.
In Cuidad Juarez, the increase in the number of people wounded by firearms, for example, has stretched emergency services thin. The city's main hospital has had to dedicate 45 additional beds to such victims.
Doctors have complained that they cannot care for patients who have other types of injuries or disease because there is no room for them. Also, some will not come to facilities that are treating drug crime victims, said Mexico's Secretary of Health, Jose Angel Cordoba, during a working tour.
The situation is Juarez is replicated in other cities, like Reynosa, Monterrey, Torreon and Tijuana, that have been immersed in the drug war, he said.
In addition, Cordoba said, the insecurity has prompted doctors to flee the region, causing a shortage in those who can care for patients.
