Mexico’s federal government has set out a six-year hospital infrastructure plan that would add 9,139 beds across 152 projects, lifting total capacity from 96,966 to 106,105 beds by 2030. The programme, backed by an estimated 181 billion pesos, includes 50 entirely new hospitals, 47 expansions and 55 replacements. Officials report that 30 projects have already been completed since October 2024, contributing 1,474 beds, and a further 33 are due to finish this year, adding another 1,163 beds. The push is framed as a reversal of decades of under-investment: President Claudia Sheinbaum noted that only 4,300 beds were built during 36 years of neoliberal governments, compared with 29,500 in the first four decades of the IMSS. The ISSSTE alone plans to build, rehabilitate or rescue 20 hospitals, with the Tampico general hospital now 98 per cent complete and due to open with 150 beds and a magnetic resonance imaging unit.

In Peru, president-elect Keiko Fujimori has proposed constructing six new regional airports, in Oxapampa, Chimbote, Moquegua, Puno, Huancavelica and Huancayo, alongside completing access to Lima’s Jorge Chávez airport and the Chinchero airport in Cusco. Former transport minister Paola Lazarte told Gestión that each project must first define the needs it seeks to serve, requiring demand studies and coordination with airlines. Tito Alegría, head of the tourism promotion body Proturismo, warned that an airport does not by itself guarantee commercial flights or tourist arrivals, pointing to the underused Pisco airport as a cautionary example. Both specialists identified Oxapampa as the most promising candidate, given its tourism potential and the current ten-hour road journey from Lima.

A different approach is visible in Italy, where the national health service has cut waiting times without a major building programme. The first quarterly monitoring by the national agency Agenas shows that in the first half of 2026, over 1.6 million more specialist visits and diagnostic tests were delivered within the times prescribed by doctors than in the same period of 2025. Total bookings rose from 13.3 million to nearly 15 million. The share of specialist visits completed on time reached 78 per cent, and diagnostic tests exceeded 84 per cent. Oncology visits performed best, with over 95 per cent meeting deadlines, while neurology, gastroenterology and dermatology continued to lag. The improvement is attributed to expanded service supply and better regional organisation, though 2.8 million procedures still missed their clinical deadlines.

Viewed from Lima and Mexico City, the infrastructure pledges signal a political commitment to closing long-standing gaps in connectivity and healthcare. Yet the Peruvian experts’ insistence on feasibility studies and airline agreements, and the Italian experience of boosting output through management rather than bricks and mortar, underscore that new buildings are only one part of the equation. The next milestones to watch are the completion of Mexico’s 33 hospital projects by year-end and the detailed demand assessments that will determine whether Peru’s airport proposals move beyond the drawing board.