A well-established private hospital in Mérida is under fire from state health authorities after a citizen complaint alleged that CEM — the Centro de Especialidades Médicas del Sureste — has been performing surgeries in violation of a partial suspension order issued in April.
According to the complaint, Yucatán’s Dirección de Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios dispatched inspectors to CEM on April 1, following concerns about serious deficiencies at the hospital. Inspectors found enough to act: they ordered the suspension of two operating rooms and the hospital’s sterilization and equipment center, known in the medical field as the CEYE (Central de Equipos y Esterilización).
The CEYE is considered indispensable to any hospital performing surgery. It is where all surgical instruments must be sterilized before procedures, making it a critical safety checkpoint between patients and infection risk. Without a functioning, compliant CEYE, operating rooms cannot be considered safe.
The original complaint was filed on Dec. 26, 2025, both in person at the state health agency and through COFEPRIS’s online portal — Mexico’s federal health regulatory authority, roughly equivalent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in its oversight role. The complainant alleged that the hospital had been operating with multiple deficiencies resulting from a lack of investment, and that some of those deficiencies posed a risk not only to patient health but also to patients’ lives.
What followed the April inspection has drawn sharp criticism. According to the complaint, CEM did not halt surgeries after the suspension was issued. Instead, the hospital allegedly enabled a sealed operating room and has continued to schedule procedures in what the complaint calls a clandestine manner.
“As it is known, since the day of the suspension ordered by the state health authorities, CEM hospital has not interrupted its surgical interventions,” the complaint states, adding that at least one procedure was performed in the emergency area following the closure order.
The complaint calls the continued surgeries a crime, namely the violation of a suspension order from the relevant state health authority.
Neither CEM nor Yucatán health authorities had issued a public response at the time of publication. This publication invited comment from both parties and will update this story when responses are received.
CEM, which has operated for more than 49 years in central Mérida on Calle 60 near Avenida Colón, is one of the city’s older and more recognized private facilities. Its services include intensive care, emergency medicine, cardiology, and surgical suites, and it markets itself to Mérida’s growing medical tourism population. The hospital is also known to have faced labor complaints in recent years from employees over wage and benefit disputes.
Mérida has built a strong reputation as a healthcare destination, attracting patients from across the Yucatán Peninsula and from the United States and Canada. The city’s top private hospitals — Star Médica, Clínica de Mérida, Centro Médico de Las Américas, and Faro del Mayab — are internationally recognized and typically offer procedures at 30% to 70% below U.S. costs. No similar complaints or suspension orders were found in public records for other Mérida hospitals at the time of publication.
In the first half of 2025, Yucatán’s health protection authority had already shuttered four beauty clinics in Mérida for operating without proper licenses or certified staff, signaling that enforcement activity has been active in the region. But the CEM case, if substantiated, would represent a more serious situation: a licensed hospital allegedly defying an explicit order to cease surgeries.
The allegations against CEM remain unproven, and the hospital has the right to contest the suspension through legal and regulatory channels. What is not in dispute is that the complaint was formally filed with both state and federal health authorities months ago, and that inspectors did visit the facility — a fact that suggests the underlying concerns were taken seriously enough to act on.
CEM Fast Facts
- Hospital: Centro de Especialidades Médicas del Sureste (CEM), Calle 60 between Calle 35 and Avenida Colón, Mérida
- Complaint filed: Dec. 26, 2025, with Yucatán Health Services and COFEPRIS (the federal health regulator)
- State inspection: April 1, 2026
- Action taken: Suspension of two operating rooms and the hospital’s sterilization and equipment center (CEYE)
- Allegation: Surgeries continued after the suspension order, including in a sealed operating room
- COFEPRIS is Mexico’s federal health authority, overseeing sanitary compliance in hospitals and clinics
- Status: No public response from CEM or Yucatán health authorities at time of publication
Sources: Yucatán Magazine, Novedades Yucatán