Mexico’s State Workers’ Social Security Institute Launches 100 Clinics for the Universal Health Service

ByCarolina Gómez Mena

This article by Carolina Gómez Mena originally appeared in the October 6, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

The director general of the Institute for Social Security and Services for State Workers (ISSSTE), Martí Batres Guadarrama, highlighted the launch of 100 clinics of the agency that will be integrated into the Universal Health Service (SUS), an initiative promoted by President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo with the purpose of bringing medical care closer to the population.

As reported today at the morning press conference of President @Claudiashein, the Universal Health Service is advancing with the construction of clinics to expand the primary health network. The @ISSSTE_mx will contribute 500 clinics. We have finished 100 and by the end of the year, we will have another 100.

Martí Batres, on social media

The federal government will establish 12,750 medical clinics of the new SUS in 24 states, which will begin operating in January 2027. The ISSSTE’s contribution represents 3.9 percent of the total of those medical spaces.

Batres detailed that the new clinics are distributed as follows: 33 in Michoacán, 20 in Oaxaca, 10 in Puebla, 10 in Tlaxcala, 10 in Yucatán, six in Mexico City, five in Quintana Roo, three in Guerrero and three in Chiapas.

In addition, he stressed that these are already providing medical service to people, regardless of whether or not they are beneficiaries.

They Will Treat Common Ailments and Chronic Diseases

He indicated that the ISSSTE clinics are part of the 12,750 that will be installed in the country to treat the population for common ailments and to follow up on chronic diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension.

“These are 12,750 clinics distributed throughout the national territory so that people can go to be treated for so-called acute ailments: headaches, stomachaches, a cold, pains of that kind, ailments of that kind that have to be treated immediately and that cannot wait for a regular appointment to be scheduled at a clinic,” he said.

He noted that the ISSSTE, the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) and IMSS-Bienestar will promote these clinics, which will provide care to anyone, regardless of their affiliation, starting in January 2027.