A month of sit-in and a truce of a month and a half
Reynosa teachers temporarily withdrew the protest they held for more than a month at the ISSSTE Hospital facilities. The decision was made after a commission of teachers directly exposed to federal officials the multiple shortcomings affecting health care.
During the meeting in Mexico City, representatives of the teaching profession presented evidence about shortages of medicines, lack of specialists, insufficient supplies, infrastructure problems and an out-of-service operating room. The federal authorities requested a vote of confidence and promised to meet the demands.
José Iram Rodríguez Limón, secretary of Organization II of the SNTE in Reynosa, explained:
“We are going to give them the opportunity to work. They asked us to lift the sit-in and give them a month and a half to begin to resolve the needs. We are not asking for anything extraordinary; we simply demand a decent health service for all beneficiaries.”
The teachers clarified that the withdrawal does not imply that the problems are resolved. The hospital continues to operate with deficiencies: an inactive operating room, absence of a pediatrician on weekends, failures in the air conditioning and persistent shortages. A beneficiary reported that she was informed that a medication was not available, but later learned that it did exist in the hospital, which generates uncertainty.
The teachers rejected that there were political or union interests behind the mobilization. “This fight does not belong to any political party. The only thing we seek is for workers and their families to receive decent medical care,” said Rodríguez Limón.
The period granted is approximately a month and a half to evaluate progress. The teachers warned that if there are no tangible results, they will resume the mobilizations and could intensify them.
