By KELIN DILLON

While Mexico’s hospitalizations caused by covid-19 have grown by a massive 562 percent in the past two months alone, the country’s hospitals have been suffering from a huge lack in supply of gel, soap and other necessary items used in the sanitation.

According to patients and health workers, there is also a distinct lack of services, medicinal supplies and laboratory studies throughout nationwide health institutions, leaving many hospitals announcing the supply deficiencies by hanging banners out of their windows.

“We have been treating covid patients for a year and a half without being considered a covid hospital, without supplies and without government support,” said workers from the Institute for Social Security and Services for State Workers’ (ISSSTE) National Institute of Perinatology.

Employees at the hospital say they are missing the vital gloves, antibacterial gel, KN95 and three-layer masks, micropore tape, armbands, urine collection bags, hydrogen peroxide and needles to properly treat patients.

At the ISSSTE’s Adolfo López Mateos Hospital, workers and patients alike have claimed the lack in supply has dated back to December 2020, but only worsened as the country’s third wave of coronavirus has emerged.

Some patients even reported they were required to buy masks at the entrance of the hospital for 300 pesos each.

The news comes on the heels of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) announcing on Tuesday, Aug. 3, that all of Mexico’s inhabitants over the age of 18 will have the opportunity to be vaccinated against coronavirus by October of this year at the latest.

“We are going to fulfill the commitment to have all Mexicans over 18 years of age vaccinated by the month of October. We want the entire population over 18 to be vaccinated by next winter,” said López Obrador during his daily press conference at the National Palace.

AMLO also announced that the minor population of the country could also potentially receive inoculation against covid-19 in the near future.

“We won’t rule out that children and young people with diseases that merit special protection will also be vaccinated in our country, if the international health organizations approve it,” he said.