The announcement comes as the mayor nears the start of his presidential campaign, 
The program is staffed by 200 doctors and is in addition to a monthly stipend for the elderly that the left-leaning mayor created early in his term. It's also in addition to free care in city clinics and hospitals. 

Lopez Obrador also repeated his pledge to halve the presidential salary to about 76-hundred dollars a month if elected president. 

Lopez Obrador has said he will step aside as mayor on July 31st in order to seek the nomination of his Democratic Revolution Party. He has led most opinion polls for the presidential election of July 2006.