Mexico Launches Online Doctor Appointment Platform

The IMSS Bienestar program has launched the digital platform 'Your Appointment in Three Minutes,' a tool that allows users to schedule medical appointments online through the portal micita.imssbienestar.gob.mx. This initiative is part of a strategy to modernize access to health services at the primary care level. As of March 11, the system began operating in 155 IMSS Bienestar health centers in the eastern zone of the State of Mexico, aiming to serve approximately four million people. The new tool's objective is to reduce queues, eliminate the ticket system, and facilitate access to medical consultations. The program's director general, Alejandro Svarch Pérez, explained that the digitization of health services is a key tool for removing access barriers and improving the user experience within the public system. For years, obtaining a medical consultation meant lining up very early, even before dawn, with the uncertainty of getting a ticket—a situation that the new platform seeks to change. In this regard, he indicated that the implementation of this system in the eastern State of Mexico represents the beginning of a process to transform how the population accesses medical consultations at the primary care level. The portal allows users to: schedule medical appointments online, check previously scheduled appointments, and choose the doctor with whom they wish to receive care. The platform was launched in 155 primary-level units located in 11 municipalities of the region: Nezahualcóyotl, Chalco, Chicoloapan, Chimalhuacán, Ecatepec de Morelos, Ixtapaluca, La Paz, Texcoco, Tlalnepantla de Baz, Valle de Chalco Solidaridad, and Naucalpan de Juárez. In these municipalities, nearly four million people use the free public health services offered by IMSS Bienestar. Svarch Pérez explained that the system's implementation would begin in the eastern State of Mexico and would later be progressively extended to the rest of the country's health centers. The goal, he noted, is to build a more efficient, accessible, and close-to-the-population care model using digital tools that simplify access to medical appointments. The municipal president of Nezahualcóyotl, Adolfo Cerqueda Rebollo, reported that the municipalities in the eastern State of Mexico are working coordinatively to improve the environment around IMSS Bienestar health units. He explained that municipal authorities are developing actions to guarantee the supply of drinking water and prevent flooding in the vicinity of the health centers, as part of joint work with the head of government, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, and the National Water Commission, among other institutions. The event was also attended by various authorities from the health and municipal sectors, including Macarena Montoya Olvera, Secretary of Health of the State of Mexico; Xóchitl Flores Jiménez, municipal president of Chimalhuacán; and Andy Hernández de León, coordinator of the Nezahualcóyotl Operational Region 12 of IMSS Bienestar. With the launch of the 'Your Appointment in Three Minutes' platform, IMSS Bienestar has advanced in the process of modernizing primary health care by incorporating digital tools that facilitate access to consultations in health centers. The initiative seeks to simplify the scheduling of medical appointments and strengthen a more accessible and efficient public health system, for the benefit of millions of people who use free medical services in the country.