Mexico Hires Another 2,700 Cuban Doctors
in addition to the 1,200 previously agreed on
The island’s government only gives the doctors a stipend to cover their basic needs.
HAVANA TIMES – The Government of Mexico announced on Tuesday what the “strengthening of health cooperation” agreed with Cuba last May translates into: in the coming months it will import another 2,700 doctors from the Island. At the daily presidential press conference the official said that, with this hiring, “hospitals and small centers” in rural areas will be able to have “at least 12 doctors,” which will ensure that there is service seven days a week in all work shifts.
The director of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (Imss) explained that 282 hospitals with 20 beds have been detected in rural areas where only four doctors worked, affecting health services. “Many times you could have the anesthesiologist but the surgeon was not there, or vice versa, so, we gave ourselves the task of putting out the call for doctors,” Robledo said.
The 2,700 specialists will join the 950 who, according to Robledo, are in Mexican territory, specifically distributed in 23 states. These are part of a first agreement, signed in 2023, by which the Island would send 1,200 doctors to work in remote areas in the country. Among the new doctors will be specialists in “internal medicine, pediatrics and emergency procedures,” Robledo said, adding that surgeons, anesthesiologists and gynecologists are needed.
The official also indicated that Cuban doctors will be part of the Imss-Bienestar, the free health organization created by the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to replace the Seguro Popular, in force until that time. However, he did not talk about the payment they will make to the company Neuronic Mexicana, a subsidiary of Neuronic S.A. Cuba, which since 2018 has been a representative of the products and services of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry of the Island, and is under the presidency of the Cuban Tania Guerra.
A Mexican Health source confirmed last July to 14ymedio that specialists attached to the Imss-Bienestar will receive salaries of 50,000 pesos (2,732 dollars per month), in addition to a bonus of 10,000 pesos (545 dollars), for a total of 3,277 dollars.
In February 2023, a Cuban doctor stated that they only receive “a stipend for their needs” and that their “salary is in Cuba.” Of the amount paid by the Administration of López Obrador, the Government of the Island is left with most of the salary. Organizations such as Prisoners Defenders (PD) have questioned the Government of Mexico over the hiring of Cuban professionals in “conditions of slavery.”
The temporary migration program of health workers with “friendly countries,” said PD, is nothing more than the main inflow of foreign exchange for the Cuban regime, which receives compensation for each professional. Meanwhile, the health workers bear the cost, through being subjected to contractual conditions that violate the international rules of decent employment and insult “the human condition to the limits.”
Precisely as part of the Imss-Bienestar, Robledo reported that 7,123 doctors have been hired in Mexico City and Guerrero. As of August 1, another 11,934 health workers will be sought.
He also reported that the call for the hiring of nursing staff remains open, with 3,646 vacancies: 1,027 for nursing assistants and 2,619 for general nursing staff in 27 entities.
Although none of the parties mentions it, specialists suspect that the import of doctors is the counterpart for oil shipments from Mexican ports, which are increasingly frequent. In any case, relations between the two countries will continue to strengthen during the presidency of Claudia Sheimbaum, who will take office on October 1.
For this, the figure of Lázaro Cárdenas Batel is key, who serves as head of advisers of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and who will be the next head of the Office of the Presidency of the Republic, as announced by the president-elect on July 12. He is unofficially credited with the initiative to import Cuban doctors, as well as to establish different trade relations between the two countries.
Translated by Regina Anavy for Translating Cuba.