Exploitation of Cuban Doctors: Bahamas Says “No More”
By Francisco Acevedo
HAVANA TIMES – This issue has been brewing for quite some time, as even international forums have discussed the exploitation of Cuban doctors contracted in various countries.
It has long been known that a large portion of the doctors’ salaries remains in the hands of the Cuban government, which uses the funds at its discretion. In many cases, the doctors themselves wait months to receive the wages that the health ministries of the hiring countries pay on time and in full.
Well, this week the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, announced that his government will begin paying all foreign workers directly, including those from Cuba.
This measure stems from a renegotiation of the agreement for hiring healthcare personnel through Cuba’s official medical missions, following a direct request from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with whom Davis met in Washington.
The head of state recalled that before the Bahamas gained independence from Great Britain in 1973, many workers from the Bahamas and the nearby Turks and Caicos Islands were hired to work as laborers in the United States under what was known as “El Contrato” or “The Project.” This included members of his own family, who were forced to collect their earnings upon returning home, often without being fully paid.
In that context, while the British government retained a portion of the wages under the agreement that sent Bahamian workers to fill US vacancies between 1943 and 1965, part of the money was saved in a fund and another portion was sent to their families in the Bahamas. This, however, is not the case with Cuban medical personnel.
Currently, more than 100 Cubans are working in Bahamian hospitals and health institutions such as Princess Margaret and Rand Memorial. They receive additional benefits such as housing, transportation, health insurance, English courses, and administrative expenses, which raise the total cost of each worker above the local average salary.
According to a report by The Miami Herald and The Tribune, based on a contract they obtained, a Cuban state-owned company was keeping up to 92% of the money that the Bahamas paid for the services of four Cuban doctors.
At the same press conference, Davis refused to directly confirm the authenticity of the leaked contract, though he implicitly acknowledged its truth and denied a request to release the full agreement between the Bahamas and Cuba for medical services.
“They’ve already been published, so why would we want to keep publicizing them?” the prime minister said in the Diplomatic Hall of the Lynden Pindling International Airport. To the wise, few words are needed.
Washington stopped short of demanding full disclosure of these agreements, but full transparency certainly wouldn’t hurt.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce reaffirmed her government’s stance against what she called “forced labor by the regime” and hinted that foreign officials involved in such contracts could be considered complicit in exploitation and therefore subject to US visa restrictions under the Trump administration.
The Cuban government claims that the wages earned by more than 20,000 doctors and other healthcare workers contracted around the world are used to fund the island’s public health system. However, the critical state of Cuban hospitals and chronic medicine shortages suggest otherwise.
As expected, the administration of Miguel Diaz-Canel rejected the US criticism and sanctions, labeling them as unjustified aggressions aimed at harming the Cuban people (the usual rhetoric). Yet the government has produced no official documents to prove that its citizens receive fair pay or that the revenue is used to improve primary healthcare in Cuba, for example.
The old justification that Cuban doctors received their university education for free doesn’t hold water either. First, they are required to complete “Social Service,” during which they receive only a third of their salary, and for the rest of their lives they continue earning pitiful amounts compared to their peers in the rest of the world—amounts that are insufficient to live with dignity amid Cuba’s harsh economic crisis, marked by food shortages, nonexistent public transport, and daily blackouts.
Public university education is not unique to Cuba, and in other countries, recent graduates are not tied down for life. At worst, they repay the amount of the scholarship they benefited from, which in Cuba would almost never equal the two years counted as “Social Service” on the island.
Perhaps most noteworthy is that Davis is just one of seven Caribbean prime ministers who met with Rubio—who is of Cuban descent—on Tuesday to discuss the issue of the medical brigades. This decision could therefore set a precedent for other nations in the region, and possibly beyond.
The new arrangement may mark a turning point. Still, it’s important to stay alert, as Cuban officials may pressure brigade members to transfer most of their earnings from their personal bank accounts to state-controlled funds, specifically to the Cuban Medical Services Marketing Company.
The medical missions have been repeatedly denounced by human rights organizations—not only because of the paltry wages, but also because doctors must surrender their passports, comply with strict disciplinary and movement restrictions, participate in political events, and are monitored by regime agents.
Separation from their families is another burden for these doctors, many of whom don’t even know how much is being paid for their work.
This opens new possibilities: the dictatorship might “stand its ground” and refuse to send collaborators under these conditions, or it may force them to transfer their earnings directly into official accounts as a kind of “tax.” Time will tell.