Health · Healthcare & Policy · 5 hrs ago
IMSS has fewer doctors per user than ISSSTE, specialist warns
Mexico’s IMSS has two doctors per 1,000 users, compared with 3.6 at the public-sector ISSSTE, according to academic Gabriela Luna Ruiz.
The gap matters because shortages of nurses, hospital beds and medical supplies also make it harder for patients to get appointments, tests, surgery and emergency care.
IMSS-Bienestar has 2.1 doctors per 1,000 users and is intended to serve 41.6 million people without social security coverage.
Demand for care has grown without a matching increase in staff, facilities and resources, contributing to longer waits and medicine shortages.
Public spending per person is about 2.3 times higher at IMSS and ISSSTE than at IMSS-Bienestar, reflecting differences in how the systems are funded.
Luna Ruiz also said pensions take 64% of IMSS funding and 73% of ISSSTE funding, and proposed separating pension budgets from money for patient care to make health spending easier to assess.
The IMSS has two doctors per 1,000 users, 44% fewer than the ISSSTE, according to academic Gabriela Luna Ruiz.
Luna Ruiz warned that shortages of medical staff, hospital beds and supplies limit access to care.
The IMSS-Bienestar has 2.1 doctors per 1,000 users and is intended to serve 41.6 million people without social security.
She said rising demand has not been matched by proportional increases in staff, infrastructure and resources.
Luna Ruiz also said pension costs take up much of the budgets of the IMSS and ISSSTE.
- Who
- Gabriela Luna Ruiz, an academic at the Universidad Iberoamericana, raised the concerns.
- What
- She warned that the IMSS has fewer doctors per user than the ISSSTE and that shortages limit access to care.
- When
- The article was published on October 19, 2026.
- Where
- Mexico’s public health system.
- Why
- Rising demand has not been matched by proportional increases in staff, infrastructure and resources, she said.
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- IMSS doctors
- 2 per 1,000 users
- ISSSTE doctors
- 3.6 per 1,000 users
- IMSS-Bienestar doctors
- 2.1 per 1,000 users
- IMSS-Bienestar target population
- 41.6 million people without social security
- ISSSTE budget for pensions
- 73%
- IMSS budget for pensions
- 64%
What people are saying
Expanding coverage of public services does not guarantee better care if institutions lack enough doctors, nurses, equipment and supplies.
The universalization of medical services cannot be achieved only …