Mexico expands home‑care drug program with private pharmacies and dispensing machines

The federal government, led by President Claudia Sheinbaum, will incorporate a network of private pharmacies into the Salud Casa por Casa programme to guarantee medication for older adults and people with disabilities who cannot obtain drugs at health centres, Bienestar stores or existing dispensing machines. Sheinbaum said the aim is that “from August‑September the programme will not rely only on health‑centre modules, but will also have other options,” and clarified that the private‑pharmacy option applies only to the Casa por Casa scheme, not to the universal health model under development.

The rollout, currently piloted in the State of Mexico with about 400 modules and more than 100,000 nurse‑issued prescriptions, will add dispensing‑machine sites in urban areas and a regulated private‑pharmacy network that will be bound by cost‑control agreements to avoid price gouging. Around 15,000 nurses and health workers have been trained for the national expansion, which is scheduled to begin in August‑September across the country, with oversight by Cofepris.

The expanded delivery system will allow patients who cannot find medicines through the primary channels to obtain them at a private pharmacy as a last resort, aiming to keep the drugs affordable and the supply reliable for beneficiaries of the programme.