translated from Spanish: Parents of children with cancer block access to Mexico City International Airport (AICM)

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Photography/ El Universal Twitter
Mexico.- Parents of children with cancer blocked on Tuesday the accesses of the International Airport of Mexico City (AICM) to protest the shortage of oncological drugs.
A score of people cut the road leading to the gates of Terminal 1 of the airport holding placards demanding the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador guarantee the supply of medicines for their children.
The blocking of access to the capital’s airport is a method of protest carried out several times by the parents of children with cancer gathered in the organization National Movement for Health.
The crisis over the shortage of cancer drugs deepened in 2019 after López Obrador came to power, whose government modified the methods of purchasing medicines to combat corruption and pharmaceutical monopolies, and also made budget cuts.
In addition, in early 2020, shortly before the start of the pandemic, the People’s Insurance disappeared and was replaced by the Health Institute for Welfare (Insabi), which caused some management and supply problems.
The Government concentrated all purchases with the Ministry of Finance, including those for medicines, which delayed procurement processes, led to shortages of oncological and retroviral HIV medicines and forced the authorities to buy medicines abroad.
President López Obrador has repeatedly attributed the lack of medicines for children with cancer to sabotage by pharmaceutical companies and has blamed hospital managers for the failure of medicines to reach patients.
Source: Vanguardia

Original source in Spanish