Cuban Doctors in Brazil Get a Sizeable Pay Raise
HAVANA TIMES — Cuban doctors sent to Brazil to work in that country’s “More Doctors” program for unattended populations received good news on Friday as their wages were increased considerably. Publicly voiced discontent among a small number of the doctors appears to have received a positive reply.
The 24.5 percent pay increase is effective starting in March. The Cubans will now receive US $1,245 per month, announced Arthur Chioro, the Brazilian Health Minister, reported dpa news.
The minister also noted that after negotiations with the government in Havana, the 7,400 Cuban doctors brought into the country will receive their full salary in Brazil.
Until now, the doctors received only US $400 a month, while another $600 was deposited in a bank account they would have access to after returning to the island.
Unlike Brazilian and other foreign physicians involved in the “More Doctors” program, the Cubans do not receive their wages directly from the government of Brazil. This is due to the three party agreement between Brazil, Cuba and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Under the contract Brazil transfers 10,000 reales (US $4,300) per month to PAHO for each of the Cuban doctors. The organization, in turn, transfers an undisclosed portion to the Cuban government, which then uses some of the money to pay the salary of its employees.
“As Minister of Health of Brazil I cannot say how Cuba uses these resources. I have the impression that a significant portion goes to the Cuban health system for the training of doctors, which have helped in partnerships around the world,” said Chioro.
You’re right sir, I don’t know you or your “connection” to Cuba, but your regurgiatated rhetoric makes it plain for anyone to see that you are either wilfully blind or simply ignorant on the subject.
“Freedom”? Do you read the news ? Ask a US student, drowning in debt, unable to find a job paying more than $9/hr, and unable to support a family how much freedom he has. If there were a foreign power, financing, directing and organizing the millions of disaffected youth here, Washington would look like Chacao in Caracas.
Yuray, you couldn’t be more wrong. I know more about the Cuban reality than you could possibly imagine. You don’t know me, or my connection to Cuba.
Comments such as this display a level of ignorance with which one should not argue… Poor Terry clearly has no clue about Cuban reality…
Didn’t the regime say they would get 40 to 50% of 4,200$?
That would be $16,082 to $2,100.
Still a lot less than promised.
$1,425 is 33.9%, not 40 or 50%
More lies from the dictatorship.
All of that is true. But after a week of CrossFit, I treat myself on my ‘cheat’ day.
I know what it is like to live with less, a lot less. Thank God I live in a country where I can and did better my circumstance with education and hard work and a little risk taking and now I can spend my time as I please and all before turning 50. It costs a lot to be a neurosurgeon in the US. But it costs more in Cuba. It costs your freedom.
You have obviously fallen for the “free education” bullshit. At an income tax rate above 95% in Cuba, education nor health care is free. My best Cuban friend in Cuba is a neurosurgeon and has worked abroad and in Cuba for more than 20 years. He has never earned more than 30 usd in a month. He has more than paid the Castros back with his services. By the way, McDonalds annual revenues tell a different story and Cuban papa fritos are good too. When there are potatoes available….
Obviously the 16 year-old making french fries in the US is being paid too much. And yes, how much does it cost a person to become a neurosurgeon in the US? How much does it cost a person to become a neurosurgeon in Cuba? McDonald’s french fries are absolute crap by the way. Much better papa frito in Cuba.
Maybe you should get a job alongside that french fry boy and probably alot of adults working at your neighborhood McDonalds. Tell the State Dept., or Freedom House or whoever, to hold the checks for a month, and see for once what it’s like to live like an American precariate for a while. It might open your eyes to why Cuba has so many defenders. By the way, how much does it cost to become a neurosurgeon in the US ?
How can you say that! They are oozing with saturated fats and chemicles. I refer you to the McAnarchist case.
A vaunted Cuban neurosurgeon in Brazil still earns less than the 16 year-old in charge of french fries at the McDonald’s near my house. Oh well, McDonald’s makes really good french fries.