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By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

While Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) continues to defend his unilateral decision earlier this month to hire 500 Cuban doctors at higher salaries than those paid to their Mexican counterparts, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the country already has enough physicians without having to import more.

According to the WHO, there should be of three doctors for every 1,000 inhabitants, and Mexico has, according to 2021 data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), 3.1 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants.

According to the Inegi’s National Survey of Occupation and Employment (ENOE), as of the fourth quarter of 2021, Mexico had 407,358 family doctors and specialists.

And when disaggregated by categories, the country has 1.58 general practitioners and family physicians for every 1,000 inhabitants.

In total there are 144, 273 specialists in Mexico, with Michoacán, Mexico City, Jalisco, Puebla and Veracruz registering the highest rates, between 1.40 and 2.10 experts per 1,000 inhabitants, while Chiapas and Sonora are at the bottom of the list.