Quintana Roo Is Building Its Most Ambitious Healthcare System Ever, and Puerto Morelos Residents Will Feel It

Big Changes Coming to Healthcare Near Puerto Morelos

Anyone who has lived in Puerto Morelos for more than a few years knows the drill. You get sick, really sick, and you make the drive to Cancún.

For anything beyond what Costamed or a local clinic can handle, that 36-kilometer stretch of highway has always been the road to serious medical care. That is about to change in a big way.

The Biggest Healthcare Push in a Generation

Quintana Roo's State Health Secretary, Flavio Carlos Rosado, has confirmed that seven to eight new hospitals are currently under construction or in advanced planning across the state.

Governor Mara Lezama has declared 2026 the "Year of Health" in Quintana Roo, calling it an investment without precedent in the state's history.

The projects span three separate federal health systems: IMSS, IMSS-Bienestar, and ISSSTE. That means more coverage for more people, whether you have social security, use the public welfare health system, or are a government worker.

What This Means for People in Puerto Morelos

Puerto Morelos is a separate municipality bordering Benito Juárez (home to Cancún), about 36 km south. So the projects going up in and around Cancún directly affect residents here.

The biggest news is the new Specialty Tower being built next to the existing Hospital General Jesús Kumate Rodríguez.

This will be Quintana Roo's first true third-level hospital, meaning it will handle complex cases that today require patients to travel to Mexico City or Mérida.

It will offer more than 26 specialties, including cardiology, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, and oncology. It will also include a dedicated mental health ward, a first for the state.

A New Maternal and Child Hospital in Cancún

A building that sat abandoned in Cancún's Supermanzana 65 since 2017 is getting a second life. IMSS-Bienestar is converting the old Hospital Kumate building into a brand-new Maternal and Child Hospital.

The facility will have three floors, more than 11,000 square meters of space, three operating rooms, intensive care, and a total of 104 beds.

It is designed to serve mothers, newborns, and children in the northern part of the state, an area that includes Puerto Morelos.

More Beds, More Access

The ISSSTE clinic in Cancún is also being converted into a full General Hospital, growing from just 19 beds to 90.

That is a massive jump in capacity for a city that has long been underserved relative to its population size.

Down south, new General Hospitals are under construction in Felipe Carrillo Puerto (60 beds) and Chetumal (120 beds), with both expected to open by the end of 2026.

Why This Matters Right Now

Puerto Morelos has grown fast. Puerto Morelos' population grew from 16,252 in 2010 to 26,921 in 2020.

But the local medical infrastructure has not kept pace. Costamed remains the only hospital in town, and while it does solid work, it has limits.

These new facilities in Cancún will not replace the need for a local clinic or urgent care here. But they mean that when something serious happens, the specialized care waiting on the other end of that drive will be dramatically better than it was before.

For expats, retirees, and long-term residents, this is the kind of structural change that makes a real difference in the decision to put down roots here.

Quintana Roo is finally building the medical backbone that a state of its size and growth has needed for decades.