Mexico signs accord with U.N. agency to ensure medication supply

MEXICO CITY, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday signed an agreement with the U.N. Office for Project Services (UNOPS) for the purchase of medications abroad, aiming to resolve chronic supply shortages and high prices.

The deal will allow drugs to be purchased "at good quality and good prices so that we can definitively resolve a problem from long back," Lopez Obrador told his daily news conference.

"We want medications to be available in health centers, medical units and hospitals for free," he added.

Speaking alongside him, Finance Minister Arturo Herrera said the first phase of the program would acquire 384 critical drugs for a total of 32 billion pesos ($1.53 billion). ($1 = 20.9210 Mexican pesos) (Reporting by Raul Cortes and Daina Beth Solomon Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)