More than two thousand children are currently being treated for cancer at Mexico’s Social Security Institute (IMSS) , receiving special care at State Reference Centers for the Attention of Children with Cancer (ONCOCREAN) , which aim to provide a timely detection of the illness and treat low-complexity conditions such as leukaemias, lymphomas, and kidney tumors without having to move patients to other health centers, allowing for a quick treatment of the affliction.
Located in the states of Chiapas, Baja California Sur, and Nayarit , the ONCOCREAN hospitals seek to provide families with access to highly specialized medical services near their states. The fourth health center of this kind will soon be opened in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz .
Enrique López Aguilar, medical director at the Pediatric Hospital of the Siglo XXI National Medical Center (CMN)
, and head of the ONCOCREAN hospitals, said that children who received care in these centers showed a survival rate of 70% . Before the ONCOCREAN initiative, life expectancy of underage cancer patients was of barely 22% .
Before, it could take up to a month for a child to be sent to a health center in Mexico City, Guadalajara, or Monterrey to receive proper treatment.
Cancer is currently the first cause of death among sick children, and the second cause of death globally, followed by accidents.
The first medical center for the attention of children with cancer was opened in Tapachula, Chiapas in 2015 , which now treats 1,530 children ; the one in Tepic, Nayarit opened in March 2017 and it currently cares for 134 children ; the one in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur , opened in June 2017 and now treats 338 children .
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