Cuba Suspends Sending More Doctors to Brazil
HAVANA TIMES – Brazilian authorities announced on Monday that they will seek to hire more local doctors after Cuba suspended sending more than 700 of its doctors, part of a health agreement between the two countries, for fear of defections.
“We will replace them (the Cubans) with Brazilian doctors who registered in an earlier registry and wait for Cuba to announce the resumption of the agreement,” local media quoted Brazilian Health Minister Ricardo Barros as saying.
The minister assured that Brazil will seek to increase the number of its own doctors in the program “Mais Médicos” (“More Doctors” in Portuguese), although it will not renounce for the moment the contract signed with Cuba in 2013 and renewed last year.
“The agreement with Cuba will be maintained for three years,” said Barros, who stressed plans to gradually replace Cuban doctors.
“It is our interest to expand the space for Brazilian doctors and consolidate a reduction of 4,000 Cuban doctors in those three years of agreement,” the minister told “Jornal do Brasil.”
The program “Más Doctors”, is composed of 18,200 professionals, including doctors and other health staff, currently including 10,400 Cubans.
Barros acknowledged that the Havana government demands measures to prevent Cuban doctors from dropping out of their missions to work on their own in Brazil, where they have the potential to improve their income. Working under the Cuban government contract, the doctors receive only a small portion of the money paid by Brazil to the Cuban government for their work.
“There is an annoyance of the Cuban government with the judicial sentences that allow the permanence of Cubans in Brazil and the payment directly to the Cubans,” explained Barros.
The Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper last week revealed that Cuba had suspended the sending of 710 doctors to Brazil and that it asked the Pan American Health Organization, the intermediary of the agreement between the two countries, to meet with the Brazilian Government to address the problem.
According to Folha, the Brazilian Ministry of Health has at least 88 lawsuits from Cuban doctors trying to work independently in Brazil.
The Cuban government only gives its doctors a small part of the wages paid by other countries for the health services that the socialist island offers. Many Cuban athletes and doctors have been deserting for decades, taking advantage of stays in other countries, to try to make a career abroad.
“More Doctors” was created in 2013 by the then Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff, to try to correct the high deficit of doctors in the most remote areas of Brazil. The agreement with Cuba is an essential part of the program.
Because like duhhhh! 🙂
A-ha!!
A metaphorical use of the word ‘slaves’.
Well why didn’t you say so in the first place??
Unclench dude. I was speaking metaphorically
You introduced the word ‘slaves’ here. You applied the word incorrectly.
You used it to describe the Cuban Doctors referred to in the article.
The article is not about slavery and does not mention the word ‘slaves’.
Modern slavery in the USA is different to the ‘national institution’ slavery of previous centuries that you refer to. Very different. I totally agree.
But it is still slavery.
That’s not my opinion.
That is what it is called.
Human trafficking is a crime in the US and in Cuba. In fact, one of the recent accords between the US and Cuba relates to human trafficking. It is a serious problem, especially for it’s victims but it is not a national institution as was 19th century slavery. You should not conflate the two very different, albeit tragic, human failings.
Slavery was a problem in Cuba.
Not currently.
Slavery was a problem in the USA.
Still is.
Just because you are (or prefer to be) unaware of something, don’t mean it don’t exist.
Until you’re actually aware of the facts, it’s pretty insulting to go throwing round words such as ‘slavery’ to further your naïve and narrow political viewpoints.
Google ‘slavery in modern USA’ and perhaps try taking off them ‘ol blinkers??
I get it. You are one of those “alternative facts” people. No, I am not aware that slavery is a national problem. ….again.
You wrongly use the word ‘slaves’ to describe the people referred to in the article.
If you do not realize that slavery is an issue in your country then you are obviously in denial.
I’m not saying that you are being idiotic.
That would be insulting.
But try doing a little research on the matter before you accuse others of being idiotic.
Once more I point you towards the facts Mr P.
Just because the facts don’t fit in with your comfortable little worldview, it don’t mean they’re not facts.
Slaves in the US? Slaves to what? Netflix? It is idiotic to compare whatever problem you think exists in the US to the realities in Cuba.
Good for Brazil. They honor the humanity of these doctors by letting them work for actual pay. The doctors owe Cuba a fair tax on their earnings not the 95% Cuba takes. The exploitation by socialism of labor is a disgraceful distortion of Marx.
Slaves!!
There are currently an estimated 200,000 to a quarter of million slaves in your country.
You live in a glass house.
And your throwing stones again.
It is amazing, what happens in a socialist society, when they run out of other peoples money. Venezuela is broke and the downstream effect is showing up!!!
With the “new” president not respecting the financial agreement Cubans can not be expected to foot the bill for Brazil forever.
Imagine that? Cuban doctors who choose not to be treated like slaves. Obviously, the current Brazilian government has chosen not to be complicit in this slave trade. Good for them. Pimping out medical and other professionals to work for slave wages in other countries has become the highest foreign revenue source for the Castro dictatorship, even surpassing tourism income. No doubt that the Castro regime is peeing in their pants with worry that other foreign governments don’t begin to hire these Cuban professionals directly.