As of July 2023, hospital infrastructure in Mexico encompassed approximately 3,400 hospitals, over 170,000 hospital beds, and more than 7,200 operating rooms to provide healthcare services across the country. The number of hospitals registered in the North American country was around a thousand more than the amount reported by Argentina. That year, the South American country had 2,388 hospitals and a population almost three times lower than Mexico.
How are Mexican hospitals equipped?
Anesthesia machines, regularly used in surgery procedures, were the most installed medical equipment in Mexican hospitals, reaching around 8,200 devices. Ultrasound and X-ray machines, often utilized by physicians to diagnose patients, followed, with an estimated of 5,000 and 4,000 installed medical units, respectively. Within the Latin American region, only Brazilian hospitals reported higher numbers of installed medical equipment than Mexico.
Importance of a robust health infrastructure
As the COVID-19 pandemic revealed, healthcare infrastructure is critical for preventing and managing diseases that pose threats to public health. In the Latin American region, Mexico ranked first in the Global Health Security (GHS) Index of 2021, which assessed a country's health safety and capacity to respond to biological risks, achieving an overall of 57 points out of 100 possible. By category, the North American country scored highest in compliance with international norms, the health system made 54.7 points, and prevention scored the lowest.
More information by Global Health Intelligence on hospital infrastructure in various Latin American countries can be found here.
