Mexico City: Disparity in Healthcare

November 15, 2016 | Pulitzer Center

Isabel Izek

Hospital Pediátrico Legaría funded by the Secretariat of Health. All patients who come here are covered by the national program Seguro Popular. Image by Isabel Izek. Mexico, 2016.

Aerial view of Mexico City and the World Trade Center Mexico City. Image by Isabel Izek. Mexico, 2016.

Centro Medico American British Cowdray Medical Center. Image by Isabel Izek. Mexico, 2016.

Typewriter used for patient records at a hospital that treats patients covered by the national health insurance program Seguro Popular. Image by Isabel Izek. Mexico, 2016.

Waiting room at Hospital Pediátrico Legaría that transforms into a makeshift dormitory for parents in the evening. Image by Isabel Izek. Mexico, 2016.

Three-month-old Niña Cologna Menendez was admitted to the emergency neonatal unit for chronic seizures. Image by Isabel Izek. Mexico, 2016.

Six-month-old Ian Sanchez Esquival is suffering from chronic seizures resulting from untreated gastroenteritis. Ian will most likely be blind and deaf and continue to suffer from chronic seizures. Image by Isabel Izek. Mexico, 2016.

A three-month-old infant admitted to the emergency neonatal unit for severe malnutrition and chronic seizures. Image by Isabel Izek. Mexico, 2016.

A nurse at Hospital Pediátrico Legaría tends to an infant with neural damage. Image by Isabel Izek. Mexico, 2016.

A nurse at Hospital Pediátrico Legaría tends to an eight-year-old boy who suffered a stroke. Image by Isabel Izek. Mexico, 2016.

A young boy waits for his baby brother at an emergency care center. Image by Isabel Izek. Mexico, 2016.

An untouched playground for children at Hospital Pediátrico Legaría. Image by Isabel Izek. Mexico, 2016.

Hospital Pediátrico Legaría was established to provide federal government funding to the unemployed and uninsured, but is drastically underfunded. The lack of medical technology and educational efforts cannot be fixed by the attending practitioners. Patients are left with lasting disabilities.