Nurses block Mexico City road to demand more staff and medical supplies: “Less talk, we want resources”

Nurses at Mexico City’s Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI took their demand for supplies and staff into the street, blocking traffic outside the hospital and insisting that pediatric patients need better care.

The protesters gathered at 9 a.m. at the hospital’s Gate 9 before moving to block nearby roads, including the intersection of Avenida Cuauhtémoc and Dr. Ignacio Morones Prieto. They chanted slogans calling for resources and a solution to the shortages.

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We are asking peacefully for supplies for the proper care of our children and, above all, for the hiring of staff that we urgently need.

The nurses said the action aimed to defend patients’ right to health, dignity and safety. They argued that the hospital lacks the conditions needed to provide appropriate care and that too few nurses are working for the type of pediatric patients being treated.

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We are seeking a dialogue so they will listen to us, take us into account, pay attention to us and fulfill the requests we have been making for years.

Berenice Gómez said the staff were demonstrating peacefully to obtain supplies and hire more personnel. “We are asking peacefully for supplies for the proper care of our children and, above all, for the hiring of staff that we urgently need,” she said.

Gómez also called for a dialogue with hospital authorities. She said nurses had submitted written requests to directors and delegates, who had received and stamped the documents, but had yet to resolve the demands. Another nurse, who did not give his name, said the current workforce was insufficient and that patients deserved the best possible care.

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We are demonstrating so they will provide supplies and staff, because those of us working are insufficient for the type of patients we are treating.