Hospital workers at Baja California Sur’s top medical facility protested Tuesday outside the state governor’s palace, warning that critical supply shortages have left patients dying on floors and doctors forced to choose which emergencies to treat. The demonstration at Hospital General Juan María de Salvatierra in La Paz exposed a collapse in basic medical supplies that poses direct risks to anyone needing emergency care in the state capital.
Staff organized under the FINTRAS union reported zero stock of colostomy bags, N95 masks, sterile gloves, syringes, surgical soap, and specialized sutures. The hospital’s autoclave, used to sterilize surgical instruments, is broken. Workers said they now rely on incomplete disposable surgical kits and improvise during procedures. Families of patients are buying their own supplies, including suction cannulas, surgical compresses, and medications.
A Cardiac Arrest Patient Died on the Hospital Floor
The most alarming accounts came from the emergency department. Staff described patients being treated in hallways, on chairs, and on ambulance stretchers because no beds were available. In one recent case, medical personnel attempted to revive a cardiac arrest patient on the hospital floor because no functional gurney could be found. The patient died.
Around May 20, a body remained for nearly 24 hours in the ER shower area because the hospital’s temporary morgue was full. Workers said the situation caused distress among patients, families, and staff in the ward.
Dr. Alicia Gómez, a gynecologist at the hospital, told protesters she was recently asked to decide which of several women in labor would receive a cesarean section. Only one surgical kit was available. She said doctors are being forced into ethical decisions that should never arise in a functioning hospital.
Ambulances assigned to the facility also lack basic equipment. Workers said some units carry no oxygen and do not even have license plates. They cited the death of a child during a medical transfer from Santa Rosalía, alleging the transport may have violated Mexico’s Norma 034, which requires critical transfers to include both a doctor and a nurse.
IMSS-Bienestar Transition Has Strained State Hospitals Since 2023
Hospital Salvatierra’s crisis fits a pattern playing out across Mexico. In 2023, the federal government began transferring state-run hospitals into IMSS-Bienestar, a new national health system managed by IMSS (Mexico’s social security institute). The program, modeled loosely on Scandinavian universal health care and promoted by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador as the “Sistema Dinamarca,” promised free care for all Mexicans without social security coverage.
But the transition has been rocky nationwide. States that joined early, including Baja California Sur, reported supply chain disruptions as purchasing shifted from state to federal control. A 2024 report by the Mexican health policy group Coneval found that 19 of 23 participating states experienced medication shortages in the first year of transition. BCS signed its transfer agreement in mid-2023, placing Hospital Salvatierra and other state facilities under federal coordination.
Workers on Tuesday directed their anger at Dr. Bogdan Arriaga Benis, the IMSS-Bienestar state coordinator for BCS. Dr. Margarita González, another physician at the protest, said Arriaga Benis has shown “apathy” toward the crisis and should resign if he cannot manage the system. Jesús Antonio Graciano Ochoa, FINTRAS labor defense delegate, warned that any retaliation or workplace harassment against protesters would not be tolerated.
Hospital Salvatierra Is the Only High-Specialty Facility in BCS
For anyone living in or visiting La Paz, Hospital Salvatierra is not one option among many. It is the only high-specialty public hospital in the entire state of Baja California Sur. It handles complex surgeries, cancer treatment, intensive care, and trauma cases that smaller clinics in Los Cabos, Loreto, or Mulegé cannot manage. When private hospitals in Cabo San Lucas or San José del Cabo reach their limits, critical patients are often transferred here.
La Paz is also home to a growing population of foreign retirees and long-term residents. Many carry Mexican public health coverage or rely on Hospital Salvatierra as a backup for emergencies that exceed what smaller private clinics can handle. If the hospital’s ER is treating patients in hallways with improvised supplies, the safety net for a serious accident, heart attack, or surgical emergency is significantly weakened.
Workers also reported that staff in operating rooms lack sufficient lead vests to protect against radiation exposure. Uniform budgets have been partially withheld, and the hospital has not formed the required Safety and Hygiene Committee that would authorize mandatory rest periods for workers exposed to infectious and radiological hazards.
The union warned that if Governor Víctor Manuel Castro Cosío does not agree to a formal dialogue and deliver concrete solutions, workers may escalate to a “brazos caídos” (arms down) work stoppage. Such an action at BCS’s primary hospital would severely limit emergency medical capacity across the state. As of Tuesday evening, protesters remained outside the governor’s palace awaiting a response, and planned to deliver their formal petition to the BCS state congress during its Wednesday session, as first reported by Colectivo Pericú.