SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — The city of Tijuana says it has removed 48 percent of companies “pretending” to be medical providers who had access to a program that issues passes to patients who need to cross the border expeditiously.
Medical and dental facilities would purchase the passes from the city and then give them to their patients allowing them to use the “medical lane” at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
An audit of the program discovered widespread abuse and corruption, with many of the passes being sold to regular folks looking for a way to quickly cross the border.
“Forty eight percent of those enrolled were found to have irregularities and have been removed from the rolls,” said Pedro Montejo Peterson, Tijuana’s Secretary of Economic Development. “Many of these firms were reselling the passes, some of these so-called clinics had not been in business for years, and in other cases, there were companies that weren’t even registered.”
Montejo Peterson stated they were done “purifying” the program, and now, legitimate medical and dental companies would continue to have access to the passes.
“The companies that have been expunged from the program won’t be able to return, it’s not like with the previous administration that had a grace period, these people won’t be able to be part of the program ever again.”
The “medical lane” at the border had been closed for several weeks while the audit and its results were finalized.
“We will begin issuing 2,000 passes from the 15th to the 18th of November to legitimate businesses, then we’ll do about 500 per day according to demand.”
The medical lane hours will also be extended as many patients seek care in the evening.
“This will help folks who work in the morning or those who don’t want to come at all for medical or dental care because they don’t want to wait in line for hours at the border.”
Montejo Peterson says this will increase medical tourism into the region while legitimizing the program.
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