Overview
- ISSSTE director Martí Batres announced the arrival and installation of a conventional air conditioner and six evaporative aerocoolers for consulta externa at Hospital General “Dr. Fernando Ocaranza,” and said larger chillers and electrical work are underway.
- Rightsholders and hospital workers have rejected the measures as insufficient and risky, with staff and specialists saying aerocoolers raise humidity and can promote fungi and bacteria that endanger postoperative, oncological and other vulnerable patients.
- Patients and user groups report ongoing service failures including suspended consultations, lost records and medicine shortages, and they say at least 176 patients have been operated on at other hospitals because Fernando Ocaranza could not provide care.
- Thursday’s organized blockade of bulevar Morelos was carried out by derechohabientes and staff to demand construction of a new ISSSTE hospital in Hermosillo, and protesters say no firm timeline for a replacement has been provided by the institute.
- ISSSTE describes the installed units as temporary stopgaps while it carries out a broader rehabilitation of the central chilled-water system and installs larger air-conditioning units, but local users and workers say an integral rebuild is the only adequate solution.