Epidemiologia

My class with Dra. Magdalena (epidemiology) is more like an independent study. Since I'm the only premed intern this summer it's one on one and I do alot of the work on my own outside of class. She's teaching me about public health in Mexico and for the epidemiological component, I'm doing an independent study on adolescent obesity in Mexico (she picked this topic because she does research on this). The healthcare system in Mexico is a mess. Everyone in Mexico is guaranteed care through the state but through different welfare programs depending on whether they are a worker, state worker, non-worker, etc. There are state of the art private pay hospitals in the cities that are really nice, but most of the population cannot afford to use them. There are mid level hospitals (like Betania) that accept insurance and state healthcare and are comparable to lower quality hospitals in the U.S. Then there are public clinics and hospitals that offer free care to everyone who does not have insurance or does not work. And like everything else in life, you get what you pay for. In the U.S. there is some variance between hospitals and clinics but most of them are fairly nice compared to the majority of hospitals here and they all accept the same patients (those with alot of money, insurance, or Medicare). In Mexico, there is a very obvious segregation between healthcare for the rich and poor. And unfortunately most of Mexico is very poor. Dra. Magdalena uses the word desigualdad alot. I'm experiencing this firsthand in clinicals as Dr. Casas is having me rotate through different types of hospitals and clinics. Tomorrow I'm going to la clinica de seguridad social. Should be interesting!