Chetumal, Q.R. — The Ministry of Health of Quintana Roo denies that the state is overwhelmed by the coronavirus health contingency, as quoted by her counterpart from Nuevo León.
Manuel Enrique de la O Cavazos, the Secretary of Health for Nuevo León, made the comment to Alejandra Aguirre Crespo, the Secretary of Health for Quintana Roo who has rejected the statement that Quintana Roo is near collapse.
In a statement, Aguirre Crespo regretted the comments of Manuel Enrique de la O Cavazos and assured that they are totally removed from reality.
“I regret the recent comments of the Secretary of Health of Nuevo León, Manuel Enrique de la O Cavazos as they differ from reality. In Quintana Roo, we are not overwhelmed by the contingency,” she remarked.
Aguirre Crespo did however recognized that in Quintana Roo, as has been happening throughout the country, there is a shortage of trained doctors to care for those who fall ill with COVID-19, “but that in no way means that we are overwhelmed, on the contrary, we have unused installed capacity,” she clarified adding “we have more beds and fans than we do sick.
“But given the shortage of specialist doctors, we are acting. We are recruiting health professionals and training them,” she explained.
She clarified that her conversation with Dr. De la O Cavazos was to learn about the experience of his state in telemedicine, a modality that can help us at this stage of the pandemic and which, in Nuevo León, has been effective.
Talking with health officials in other states is a daily practice that allows us to exchange information, points of view and experiences to offer the best answers to citizens and, above all, to those with affected health, she said.
She reiterated that “in Quintana Roo we have worked to face the contingency in accordance with the specific conditions of each of our municipalities. It has been a broad and responsible approach, supported by scientific evidence and respectful of the rights of those who inhabit this state.”
On May 1, the first of three mobile hospital units began operating in a Cancun General Hospital parking lot to help detect patients with coronavirus.