June 11, 2021, Mexico City
The Temporary COVID-19 Unit (TCU) treated over 9,000 patients.
- The Carlos Slim Foundation, the TELMEX Telcel Foundation and the Inbursa Foundation provided more than MX$1,104 M, out of more than MX$1,580 M destined to the reconversion, equipment and operation of the TCU.
- In collaboration with the Mexico City Government and supported by companies and foundations gathered in the initiative “Adding for Mexico” (Sumamos por México), promoted by the Corporación Interamericana de Entretenimiento (CIE), a unique model of hospital attention to respond to the emergency was turned to reality.
- The reconversion of the Citibanamex Center which accommodated the TCU, advised by the Medicine School of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) (UNAM) and the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubirán (Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán) (INCMNSZ), enabled releasing over 112,000 bed-days in the Mexico City hospital network.
- The medical equipment and furniture used in the TCU, will be donated to 18 hospitals of the Mexico City Government.
Thanks to the support of the Carlos Slim, TELMEX Telcel and Inbursa foundations, the TCU was consolidated as reference model of early hospital attention, with the heroic participation of more than 3,000 professionals who treated 9,088 hospitalized patients, and made the timely diagnosis of 13,542 people, in the eight evaluation centers installed in different points of the country’s capital.
This unparalleled effort released 112,555 bed-days in Mexico City, during the 13 months this hospital infrastructure has been in operation.
The free, inclusive and high-quality medical care provided in the TCU installed in the Citibanamex Center, results from the Carlos Slim Foundation impulse in alliance with the Mexico City Government, and the support of “Sumamos por México,” gathering a number companies and foundations, under the initiative of the CIE Group.
The Carlos Slim, TELMEX Telcel and Inbursa foundations provided MX$ 1’104, 902,501, out of more than MX$ 1’580, 590,574 destined to the reconversion, equipment and operation of the TCU, aiming to make a strong contribution for the health recovery in the most challenging times of the pandemic.
CIE, Walmart México y Centroamérica, Bimbo, Barcel, the Sertull Foundation, the Alfredo Harp Helú Foundation, Citibanamex, the Coca-Cola Foundation, Coca-Cola FEMSA, Coppel, HSBC, CODERE, Grupo Infra, and Takeda, were also relevant donors in this initiative. To the financial resources, the excellence technical and medical criteria provided by the Mexico City’s Secretariat of Health, the INCMNSZ and the UNAM are also added. After the operation of the TCU operation concludes, 18 hospitals of the Mexico City Government will receive the donation of 9,670 medical equipment and furniture units, including ventilators, vital signs monitors, electrocardiographs, pulmonary ultrasounds, and hospital beds, among others.
Once the city has observed the sustained reduction of contagions, hospital occupancy and unfortunate deaths due to COVID-19, it has been decided that the Unit’s operations will end on June 15.
In the ceremony, the City Chief, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, recognized the work of the health professionals who, with all their dedication, sacrifice and commitment gave the best of their professionalism to the TCU.
She thanked the public and private health institutions, the UNAM, the Slim Foundation, Citibanamex and all the companies that joined the initiative to start up the TCU, because thanks to this effort, people from the capital and other states of the country were treated without any distinction.
“Here, the rich were treated, and those who had no economic resources were treated, without charging them absolutely nothing for their health care. Here, we proved that division, classism and racism lead nowhere. Here, we showed that care is unique, here we showed the soul of inhabitants of Mexico City, which will always be of solidarity and mutual support.”
And she added, “That truthful information and the solidarity of our citizens will always prevail, that the honest and transparent administration of resources will always allow us to give much more; and above all, here we proved that this public and private coordination has shown that health should be a right and that health is part of the great rights of our city, so in this Innovative City of Rights, Citibanamex will always have a fundamental place.”
On the other hand, the President of the Administrative Board of the Carso Group, Carlos Slim Domit, said that, “the Temporary COVID-19 Unit is not only a health care center, but a center of hope to overcome adversity, recover health and life, innovate benefit for others, make things better and work, all together as a team, for the good of the society”. He also thanked, “the staff of the Temporary Unit and their families, as they have touched the lives of thousands of peoples, specially ours.”
The CIE President, Alejandro Soberón Kuri, thanked the Carlos Slim Foundation, because its leadership, together with that of the Mexico City Government, made the TCU viable, which is an unparalleled reconversion in Mexico, and the largest one in Latin America. He explained that the support of both players was key to expand the operations, first from April to July, then from August to December, 2020, and finally up to June 15, 2021.
In the ceremony, a plaque to honor efforts made by the health professionals was unveiled, to commemorate the reconversion of the Citibanamex Center into the TCU.
