Wellness Megapharmacy becomes $4 billion more expensive and operates as a simple warehouse

The total cost of the Well-Being Megapharmacy increased by more than 4 billion pesos compared to the budget calculated last year, which is planned to be disbursed over 30 years, due to the estimated useful life of the Federal Center for Storage and Distribution of Health Supplies (Cefedis).

According to data from the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), investment in the land and warehouses in Huehuetoca, State of Mexico, plus the refurbishment and the federal government's expected expenditure on operation and maintenance over three decades, increased from 10.8 billion pesos to 15.028 billion 465 thousand 872 pesos.

Even the budget spent in the first few years was modified. Laboratorios de Biológicos y Reactivos de México (Birmex) had planned to spend 1 billion 676 million 649 thousand 569 pesos in 2023, and 1 billion 937 million 908 thousand 556 pesos in 2024, for a total of 3 billion 614 million 558 thousand 125 pesos in those two years.

However, according to the Ministry of Finance's Portfolio Investment Project, only 669 million 714 thousand 145 pesos were invested in 2023, and in 2024, the state-owned company spent 2 billion 277 million 405 thousand 576 pesos on the Megapharmacy.

In 2025, it plans to spend 821 million 131 thousand 222 pesos, completing the investment phase at 3 billion 768 million 250 thousand 943 pesos in October of this year.

Of these, 565 million 243 thousand 299 pesos will be from fiscal resources (first time used, in 2023 and 2024 they were not used) and 255 million 887 thousand 923 pesos from own budget.

It's just a winery

The "world's largest pharmacy," which opened in December 2023, has officially disappeared, in an attempt to mitigate the drug shortages that plagued former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during his six-year term.

"The medications will be available at the centers and hospitals, but if a patient arrives and the medicine is not available, this distribution center can be called, and there are already teams receiving calls. There are personnel from the IMSS, ISSSTE, and IMSS-Bienestar," the former president stated on December 29, 2023.

However, the Treasury currently defines it only as a warehouse for distributing some medications to the IMSS, IMSS-Bienestar, and ISSSTE, since the drugs from the 2025-2026 consolidated purchase will go directly to large hospitals, national health institutes, and highly specialized medical units, in accordance with the procedure established by the Ministry of Health.

"The project seeks to establish the Federal Center for Storage and Distribution of Health Supplies (Cefedis), which will allow for the consolidation of the storage and order preparation (picking) services provided by Birmex to ISSSTE, IMSS, and IMSS-Bienestar, achieving economies of scale that will allow for greater efficiency and reduced costs for the institution," the Ministry of Finance specifies.

Birmex also terminated López Obrador's project. A request for information was made to the effect: Is the Megapharmacy still filling prescriptions for patients of the IMSS, IMSS-Bienestar, and ISSSTE? And how many prescriptions has it filled since its opening?

The state-owned company responded that "Megafarmacia del Bienestar does not fill prescriptions, as this is the responsibility of the corresponding institutes."

It was never stocked

Since it began operations, Cefedis has had only 0.9% of the total medicines it can store. It has an estimated storage capacity of 280 million units, but it started with only 2,465,975 units.

EL Universal documented that, as of April 29, 2024, four months after its opening, the Megapharmacy had only filled 341 prescriptions, which represented 2.7 prescriptions per day on average.

To put these paltry results into perspective, the IMSS left 4,527,281 prescriptions unfilled for its beneficiaries during 2024, representing 11,575,307 prescriptions.

In September of last year, in his latest State of the Union address, López Obrador devoted three paragraphs to his megaproject, reporting that from December 29, 2023, to June 2024, he filled only 1,155 prescriptions nationwide, or an average of six prescriptions per day.

Through a request for information made by this publishing house, Birmex reported in December 2024 that it was almost empty and had only 1,150,616 pieces of medicine stored, that is, less than half of the drugs it had when it was inaugurated.

He had borrowed medicines

In April 2024, the Megafarmacia had approximately 60 million pieces of stored medicines, but not as a result of the purchase of these, but rather these were drugs borrowed from the IMSS and IMSS-Bienestar, the National Center for Preventive Programs and Disease Control (Cenaprece), the National Center for Gender Equity and Reproductive Health (CNEGSR), the Coordinating Commission of National Institutes of Health and High Specialty Hospitals (CCINSHAE), and the Ministry of Health (Ssa).

On May 14 of last year, EL Universal published the article "Megapharmacy milks IMSS and states to stock warehouses," using data from Birmex obtained through transparency. It revealed that the IMSS provided 816 medication codes, while IMSS-Bienestar sent 379, which will be issued by April 30, 2024.

The states from which the largest number of medications were seized were: State of Mexico, 8,118,610 pieces; Tabasco, 5,442,617; Veracruz, 3,880,461; Chiapas, 3,120,090; Michoacán, 3,105,302; Hidalgo, 2,084,656; Oaxaca, 1,717,132; Puebla, 1,231,095; and Guerrero, 1,227,243.

Among the medications sent to the Megapharmacy were several used to treat various types of cancer, such as busulfan, used for a certain type of chronic myeloid leukemia; capecitabine, for breast and colon cancer; and epirubicin and fulvestrant, for breast cancer.

Birmex must clarify the destination of one billion pesos

Laboratorios de Biológicos y Reactivos de México must clarify the destination of 1.044 million 882 thousand pesos due to various irregularities in payments it made to purchase medications in 2023, and in some cases, without meeting the required quality standards.

According to the third installment of the audit of the 2023 Public Accounts, presented in February of this year, Birmex paid 819 million 630 thousand pesos to the company Almacenaje y distribución Avior and 152 million 553 thousand pesos to Farmacéuticos Maypo without providing all the documentary evidence proving the service provided by the supplier.

The Superior Audit Office of the Federation determined that it also paid 24 million 258 thousand pesos to the company Neuronic Mexicana for the medications chloramphenicol, pilocarpine, and atropine whose approved codes were not included in the National Compendium of Health Supplies, and which were not required by the then Institute of Health for Well-being (Insabi), for which various rejections by health institutions were identified.

The Megapharmacy had filled 341 prescriptions four months after its opening.

In addition, it paid 15 million 390 thousand pesos to the same company for 10 batches of medication that were rejected due to quality defects, which did not comply with the volume variation tests performed by the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris).

Birmex director removed for over-cost purchases

In April of this year, President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that Jesús Olmos, director of Birmex, the company in charge of Megafarmacia, had been removed from his position to face investigation for the purchase of medications at an overprice of 13 billion pesos.

However, the amount is higher, as according to calculations by the Anti-Corruption and Good Government Secretariat, the irregularities amount to around 15 billion pesos, Raquel Buenrostro stated on the EL Universal program "Con los de Casa" on May 14.

The state-owned company's administrative director, logistics director, planning director, and other officials were also removed from their positions.

Supply is a concern at IMSS-Bienestar

Julio Menchaca, governor of Hidalgo, reported that during the meeting held this Friday by Morena leaders with President Claudia Sheinbaum, they expressed their concern about the supply of medications through the IMSS-Bienestar program.

In a brief meeting with the media, the governor of Hidalgo reported that the President had committed to visiting each of the entities involved in this program to review their progress.

"Were there any concerns or requests expressed by the governors?" Sheinbaum Pardo was asked.

"Yes, yes, especially regarding medications. It's an issue they're addressing, but it's putting pressure on us in each state," he replied.

In a separate interview, Carlos Ulloa, the new director of Birmex, announced that he will tour hospitals and clinics to ensure the supply of medicines.

"The idea is to guarantee access to medication. The common goal among all directors and all health systems is to ensure that eligible patients have access to medication. That's our greatest challenge," the executive stated.

"Will there be no more delays?" he was asked.

"No, no, there shouldn't be those conditions in the new contract. I'll supply quality and price," he said.