Mexico Opens First IMSS-Bienestar Hospital Blending Traditional Midwives With Clinical Medicine

Guanajuato, Mexico — Mexico has launched its first IMSS-Bienestar hospital that integrates traditional midwives into a hospital model alongside clinical medicine, in a bid to offer comprehensive, culturally attuned care to women and girls.

The pilot project, inaugurated in the central state of Guanajuato, is intended to serve low-risk pregnancies and births by combining the ancestral knowledge of midwives with care from gynecologists, pediatricians and other specialists.

Alejandro Svarch Pérez, director general of IMSS-Bienestar, said the model is being developed under Mexican Official Standard NOM-020 and aims to bring the traditional knowledge and practices of midwives into the national health system.

“Given Standard 020, it incorporates the traditional knowledge of our midwife colleagues into a unique model of comprehensive care that allows two worlds that were traditionally divided to come together,” Svarch said.

He said the first center of excellence will handle mainly low-risk births, with a framework that puts the needs of women and children at its center.

How the Hospital Will Operate

Under the plan, midwives will accompany women through every stage of the reproductive process — from pregnancy and childbirth through the postpartum period — while the hospital will field a multidisciplinary team of gynecologists, pediatricians, psychologists, dentists and other health professionals.

Testimony presented during the launch described the work of midwives as personalized accompaniment for women and their families, along with traditional practices such as massage, pregnancy and postpartum care, and the use of certain medicinal plants.

One of the participating midwives said the integration with medical staff is not a contest between bodies of knowledge but an opportunity to work together.

“It is not a struggle between health professionals over who knows more, but rather working together to improve the health of Mexico and of all women,” she said.

Preserving Ancestral Knowledge

Svarch said bringing traditional midwives into the health system will recognize and strengthen their work while broadening the reach of the midwifery model across the country.

The project also seeks to give more women access to this kind of accompaniment within the public health system, pairing traditional knowledge with the tools and protocols of clinical medicine.

With the model, Guanajuato becomes the starting point for a strategy to integrate traditional midwifery into IMSS-Bienestar services, built on collaboration across disciplines and an emphasis on respectful, culturally appropriate care for women.