Public healthcare workers plan more protests this week to demand better pay and working conditions

Public healthcare workers in Mexico City are planning to organize additional protests on Wednesday to demand improved pay, working conditions, and access to better healthcare resources. This comes eight days after a large protest march in the capital, where workers had initially been hailed as "heroes" for their COVID-19 pandemic efforts, but now feel "forgotten on the payroll."

At a Sunday meeting, IMSS (Mexican Social Security Institute) workers called for support from social organizations, other workers, and citizens, urging them to join their march and similar protests in other states. The workers' demands include a 10% pay raise, adequate supply of medications and medical supplies, hiring of additional healthcare personnel, resources equivalent to 7% of GDP allocated to healthcare, changes to their pension system, and the resignation of Rafael Olivos Hernández, head of the National Social Security Workers Union.

President Claudia Sheinbaum has pledged to address workers' demands and modernize Mexico's public healthcare system, but workers remain skeptical. Sheinbaum also visited medical facilities in Yucatán and pledged to completely modernize the healthcare system, but acknowledged that there are problems with the distribution of medicines and staffing shortages.