IThe choice of October 23 as a day to honor the work of doctors in Mexico is not a coincidence, because in 1937 the date was chosen because it coincided with the founding in 1833 of the Medical Sciences Establishment, an institution that is currently the Faculty of Medicine. Medical Medicine (FM) from UNAM.

The National University continues to make a significant contribution to the role played by the medical community in the country, as explained by Ana Carolina Sepúlveda Vildósola, FM academic: “last year UNAM graduated 1,019 general practitioners, of which 634 were women and 385 men- man. This year 2023, there will be 890 graduates (556 women and 334 men); At the specialty level, 4,000 residents and 1,500 in high specialization come from UNAM.”

By comparison, the professor said, “in Mexico about 17,500 undergraduate students graduate as surgeons; In specialty areas, it is estimated that around 9,300 specialists graduate each year.”

Sepúlveda Vildósola stated that, according to the National Employment and Employment Survey, “in the second quarter of 2023, the workforce of general practitioners and specialists will amount to 666,000 people; “This composition is divided into general and family doctors (which number 385,000) and specialist doctors (around 281,000).”

Challenge

Mexico has 2.4 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants, below the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average of 3.5, but the number of doctors is similar to countries such as Korea, Japan, the United States, Canada, and the UK, which saw only a slight increase. 0.51 since 2006. “While our country needs to improve these statistics, the biggest problem, emphasizes Sepúlveda Vildósola, is related to how the health workforce is distributed throughout the national territory, as they tend to be concentrated in large cities,” and he points out:

“The states that have the largest number of general practitioners and family doctors are Mexico City (41,400), the State of Mexico (37,100) and Jalisco (36,200). While there are 53,000 specialist doctors in the nation’s capital, 19,900 in the State of Mexico, and 19,600 in Baja California.”

This is despite the fact that, according to the Mexican Competitiveness Institute, specialist medicine is the best paying career of all professions in Mexico, with a monthly average of 35,033 pesos, and general medicine is the third best paying career at 24,529 pesos per month. , “most doctors need a second job to support their families.”

Sepúlveda Vildósola pointed out some of the challenges in medical training and practice in our country: “Increasing student access to public schools and medical faculties, updating academic programs with a focus on primary health care, incorporation of technology in education, teacher training, non-violent education and safety during service social.”

Likewise, he added, medical practice requires greater employment opportunities, especially for general practitioners, adequacy of positions and renewal of contract categories, job security and benefits, adequate salaries, opportunities for continuing education, professional and work development, adequacy of equipment, resources and equipment for professional practice, among others.

sugar Mama

According to mexicogob.com, “The Faculty of Medicine ranked first ranking National. The number of applicants to enter a Medicine career was 31,213 and the offers of places available were 1,930; “This is for the three campuses that offer degrees at UNAM: the Faculty of Medicine at the Ciudad Universitaria (CU) campus and the Higher Studies faculties of Iztacala and Zaragoza,” stressed Sepúlveda Vildósola.

In this regard, he points out: “In Zaragoza there were 5,031 applicants with 59 accepted, which gives an acceptance percentage of 1.33%; in Iztacala, 6,126 applicants per exam and 120 (2.21%) were accepted, and in Ciudad Universitaria (CU) of 15,962 applicants, 220 were accepted per exam (1.66%). Another admission method is by regulated graduation and all students have an average greater than 9. Regarding CU campus enrollment, currently undergraduate has 12,622 students at all levels, of which 68.7% are women, observing a growth of 73% in the last 15 years . “In the postgraduate program for the 2022-2023 academic year, there were 13,562 residents, 54.57% of whom were women.”

Lastly, the professor suggests that those interested in a career in medicine undertake an evaluation “to see if medicine is truly the career they are pursuing. This is a full-time profession and very demanding.”