Every day Mexicans with suspected coronavirus infections seek treatment at the small clinic of Erika Reyes, one of thousands of community-based doctors helping to prevent the country's health system from collapsing.
With both public and private hospitals struggling to cope during the pandemic, Mexico's neighborhood physicians are busy dealing with the overflow.
"We can treat Covid-19 cases here so that the health system doesn't become overwhelmed," the 30-year-old told AFP.
Reyes was herself infected with the virus, but after recovering she continued working.
She now treats about 30 patients a day, most of whom have Covid-19, in her private clinic in Tultitlan near Mexico City using the recommendations of the government and colleagues.
Reyes said she feels "very, very, very unprotected" because vaccination has only been offered to health workers in the public sector so far.
Outside her clinic patients queued up waiting their turn, while an assistant offered hand sanitizer and checked the temperature of people entering.
In Mexico, 43 percent of general medical consultations occur in private clinics, according to the pharmacies and clinics association Unifacc.
"We give 180,000 consultations a day," said its president, Oscar Zavala.
Many community-based doctors work from a small office attached to a pharmacy.
- Fear of dying alone -
Mexican health workers have paid a high price during the pandemic: 2,687 of them have lost their lives, of whom nearly half were doctors and around one-fifth were nurses, according to official figures.
Unifacc has reported the deaths of 32 doctors and 48 pharmacists among its members, as well as 186 relatives who became infected.
The overall figure could be higher, since there are 18,000 clinics attached to drugstores around the country.
One big appeal of neighborhood doctors is that a consultation costs around 35 to 100 pesos ($1.7-5.0), compared to 200-500 pesos in larger clinics.
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