Mexico (AFP)

At five, little Dhana is on the brink and fighting on two fronts: the acute lymphoblastic leukemia that eats her away and the shortage of drugs that plagues Mexico.

Because of this deficiency, the frequency of chemotherapy has slowed down.

This was the case at the government clinic in his native Chiapas, in the south of the country. This continues today at the "Federico Gomez" children's hospital in Mexico City, where she was admitted.

Drugs ran out in September and October 2018, then in February 2019. To this was added the closure, in August 2019, of seven of the 17 factories of the largest producer and distributor of methotrexate in Mexico, a major element of treatments administered.

"The new government had however promised that there would be no more interruption of treatment," Dhana's father, Israel Rivas, told AFP. "This is not the case".

And the situation is getting worse. "There was not a single possible chemotherapy in January," he adds in a voice tied with concern.

Dhana is not alone. Parents of young cancer patients contacted his father via social media. Together, they denounce the shortage of methotrexate, vincristine and other drugs to treat this disease across the country.

"In Federico Gomez, there are 530 children affected, but throughout Mexico, there are many more," said Mr. Rivas.

It reports messages from parents living in Tijuana (north), Oaxaca (south), Puebla (center), Mérida (east), Guadalajara (west), Minatitlan (south), Acapulco (south).

According to figures from the Ministry of Health, some 7,000 minors are diagnosed with cancer each year.

If they receive complete and rapid treatment, the survival rate can exceed 57.5% of cases.

- Cancer does not wait -

But for Crisanto Flores, Cristal's father, 3 and a half, the lack of medication is an inconceivable option.

With a modest condition, he was forced to move to Mexico City so that his daughter could be treated there.

And in January, he went through one of the most critical moments in his daughter's illness: the main treatment needed for Cristal's chemotherapy was missing.

"If vincristine is not available, the disease will gain ground," he explains. The little one has already lost the use of one eye.

Emmanuel Garcia, in Baja California (north), and Alejandro Barbosa, in Jalisco (west), live nearly 2,000 km from each other.

Both are fighting for medicine.

"In Jalisco, there are three public hospitals affected by the drug shortage. We buy them from government-certified distributors who bring them from abroad, which is very expensive," said Mr. Barbosa of the association. "Red nose".

The price of vincristine has skyrocketed due to the shortage. In less than a year, it went from around 440 (22 euros) to 2,220 pesos (110 euros).

Emmanuel Garcia has also joined the parents' group since December.

"And what about the others in southern Mexico?" He protests.

- An endless shortage -

To be heard, on January 22, a group of parents of sick children blocked access to Mexico City airport.

The next day, President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador was forced to raise the subject, but without proposing anything.

"We will never run out of drugs," he promised without further details. The government partly explains the shortage by the dismantling of the old government purchasing system which was plagued by corruption. These people and businesses "have been stealing (the state) for a long time," said the head of state.

Demonstrations bringing together a few families have taken place in recent days, but with little response.

In Merida, capital of Yucatan (south-east), Flor Gonzalez, mother of a cancerous child, Remi, lives in expectation.

"Doctors apply incomplete treatments," she said, reporting the case of a child who has relapsed due to the use of a replacement drug.

In Mexico, more than 26.4 million children have no access to any type of social security.

"People's insurance", in place since 2003 and canceled in 2020, was one of the programs allowing these children to seek treatment.

© 2020 AFP