Mexico to procure seven new hospitals as P3s

Mexico could spend MXN$8.9 billion (€470.7 million; $530 million) over the next three years to build seven new hospitals in the central and southern parts of the country, should the Finance Ministry’s draft budget for 2016 be approved next month.

The hospital projects would be procured by IMSS, Mexico’s Social Security Institute, as public-private partnerships (PPPs; P3s). According to a finance ministry document, the State Employees´ Social Security and Social Services Institute (ISSSTE) has determined that each project included in the draft budget as a P3 complies with Article 14 of the Law on Public-Private Partnerships.

The largest and most expensive project on the list, to which the government has allocated a total of MXN$1.8 billion from the federal budget from 2016 and 2017, is a 31,836-square metre, 260-bed regional hospital in García, Nuevo Leon. Another hospital of similar size and cost would be built in Tepotzotlán in the State of Mexico.

Of the seven hospitals, six would be awarded under a 25-year contract. The seventh, a secondary care facility in Yucatán that will provide complementary services for pediatrics, gynecology/obstetrics, internal medicine and general surgery and which has the lowest price tag of MXN$602.6 million, would be awarded under a 27-year contract.

The remaining four hospitals would be located in Chiapas, Nayarit, Mexico City and Tabasco.

It was not clear how the private sector partners would be selected. IMSS had not responded to a request for comment at press time.