Yaqui Medicine gains Official Recognition in Mexico

Victor, they are. For the first time in Mexico, the ancient beat of Yaqui Medicine has found an official place within the public health system. María Francisca Rosario Matuz, doña Panchita, will direct the first conventional indigenous office approved by the Federal Commission for Protection against health Risks (Cofepris), at the IMSS Welfare Hospital in Vícam Switch, heart of the Yaqui nation.

This unprecedented event not only officially supports the use of infusions, ointments, massages, and traditional cleansings, but recognizes that health also exists within the worldview of the original peoples.

Doña Panchita,heiress to the healing knowledge of her mother and niece of the legendary Yaqui healer María Matuz,has spent over 15 years relieving bodies with plants,prayers,and her hands – skills learned from childhood,observing births and learning remedies never taught in classrooms.

Cristina Gómez Lima

“I learned from my mother because she healed, and she was also a midwife. There I realized that I was accompanying a person to give birth, I learned from there. They didn’t let me inside, but I always watched,” she said.

On July 18,Doña Panchita was appointed as responsible for the first indigenous medicine office approved by Cofepris.