TIJUANA Enedina Romero says she spent a million pesos in the first year after her son was diagnosed with leukemia.
The expenses, about $80,000, were for tests, medications and treatments at private clinics and were covered by her medical insurance. But by the second year, the company cancelled her policy and she was forced to take her son to Tijuana's General Hospital.
"I was told that they would kill him here," recalled the mother, "that he wouldn't have access to chemotherapy or medicine. To our surprise, we found the best specialists in childhood cancer and treatment for free."
The mother and two dozen parents were on hand Monday morning for the inauguration of an outpatient pediatric oncology clinic at the hospital, located in the Río zone.
The clinic is the second half of a $1.2 million project (15 million pesos), funded by the federal and state government, to diagnose and treat children with cancer, said the state's health director, José Guadalupe Bustamante, all at no cost to their families.
Last year, the state remodeled the seventh floor of the hospital, increasing the number of beds from five to 13, for children needing hospitalization.
The new clinic has ten rooms equipped with high-tech monitors to track vital signs. In addition, Bustamante said, the clinic has a room for intensive therapy.
"This project allows us to provide care for 100 per cent of the children who are diagnosed with cancer," Bustamante said.
The director of the General Hospital, José Manuel Robles, said that the facility is currently treating 154 children with cancer, with 65 in the hospital and the remaining 89 are at home.
According to specialists, between 85 to 90 percent of childhood cancers are curable if detected early.
Omar.milllan@sandiegored.com
