The federal government announced Tuesday that 2,700 Cuban medical specialists will come to Mexico to work, joining 950 Cuban doctors already in the country.
Zoé Robledo, general director of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), told President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s morning press conference that Cuban specialists will help fill shortages in the areas of surgery, anesthesiology, pediatrics, gynecology and obstetrics, internal medicine and emergency care.
“In addition to the 950 [Cuban] doctors that are already working in 23 states of the country, 2,700 doctors in these specialties I just mentioned are joining us,” he said.
Their employment in Mexico is the result of an agreement between the Mexican and Cuban governments.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is an outspoken supporter of Cuba and its communist government and has repeatedly called on the United States to end its embargo against the island nation.
Robledo said the Cuban specialists will work at hospitals located mainly in rural areas but also in areas of “high marginalization.”
With the arrival of the 2,700 Cuban specialists, “these hospitals will have an average workforce of 12 doctors,” he said, adding that they will consequently have the capacity to undertake surgeries that in many cases are only performed at large hospitals in big cities.
The hiring of Cuban doctors by the federal government to work at IMSS hospitals would appear at first glance to be a praiseworthy initiative. But there is significant opposition to it, including from Mexico’s medical community and opposition politicians.
When the federal government announced its intention to hire some 500 Cuban doctors in 2022, the heads of 30 medical colleges, associations and federations expressed their “profound disapproval” of the plan, saying that it was justified by a supposed rather than real shortage of doctors.
The hiring of foreign doctors is a “serious offense” against Mexican health professionals, they said in a statement.
“In our country, there are doctors with abilities endorsed by the universities of the Mexican republic,” and they are equipped with “full knowledge of the needs and idiosyncrasies of our population,” the statement said.
In May, Senator Julen Rementería, the National Action Party’s leader in the upper house of the federal Congress, questioned why Cuban doctors were being brought to Mexico when “there are 51,000 Mexican doctors who don’t have work.”
He said the hiring of Cuban doctors is “contrary” to the government’s pledges to “provide employment to the people of Mexico.”
Health Minister Jorge Alcocer asserted in 2022 that Mexican doctors were unwilling to work in remote areas, leading the government to hire Cubans.
López Obrador said Tuesday that he very much appreciated “the support of the people and government of Cuba because they’re helping us [by] sending medical specialists.”
More concerns about Cuban doctors in Mexico
In 2021, Rementería asserted “there was not a single piece of evidence” that the 585 Cubans brought to Mexico to treat COVID patients had medical degrees.
He accused the federal government, the Mexico City government — led at the time by President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum — and the Cuban government of committing a 255-billion-peso fraud by bringing “fake doctors” to Mexico.
Ruling Morena party lawmakers rejected his claims.
In 2022, the NGO Prisoners Defenders alleged in a report that Cuban doctors in Mexico were working in conditions of “modern slavery,” although López Obrador said they would be paid wages equal to those earned by their Mexican counterparts.
Among other concerns, Prisoners Defenders said that Cuban doctors had entered Mexico at military airports on Mexican military aircraft, “bypassing all Mexican civilian
immigration procedures.”
The Cuban government, Reuters reported, “has said its deployment of doctors around the world is its primary source of foreign income.”
For its part, the United States Department of State noted in a statement earlier this year that “the COVID-19 pandemic increased the need for medical workers in many places around the world, and the Cuban government helped fill the gap by increasing the number of its medical workers abroad, including through the use of its Henry Reeve Brigade, which Cuba first initiated in 2005 to respond to natural disasters and epidemics.“
“There are serious concerns with Cuba’s recruitment and retention practices surrounding this program, exacerbating workers’ vulnerability to being subject to forced labor,” the State Department added.
With reports from Reuters
To MND Staff: Please tell me if this “51,000” statistic as claimed by Rementería has been fact-checked by any MND staff or owners.
‘In May, Senator Julen Rementería, the National Action Party’s leader in the upper house of the federal Congress, questioned why Cuban doctors were being brought to Mexico when “there are 51,000 Mexican doctors who don’t have work.”
Cuban medical schools have essentially no admissions requirements for Cubans.
What kind of poor island country with no food (not even in the black markets some days) and with collapsing buildings has a surplus of thousands of (good) doctors? Just really think about that.
Obviously they don’t have a surplus of qualified doctors. Maybe they could be converted into Nurse Practitioners–I’m not saying they don’t learn anything in med school.
I’m sure that some doctors who aren’t smart and barely pass high school can make good doctors…but I wouldn’t bet my life on it.
In the past 30-40 years, Mexico privatized everything they could. This was the neoliberal trend inspired by Reagan Economics and readily adopted by the corrupt PAN PRI right wing parties. Education was privatized as well which left thousands of very capable and bright students unable to pursue higher education. The medical field was for wealthy families and public universities like the UNAM where not able to take in more poor deserving students. So the fact is that in this previous era there were limited slots for future doctors and thus Mexico’s shortage of doctors and specialists. It is also true that many Mexican doctors who come from wealthier families don’t want to practice in ranchos and other desolate areas where there is a need. They prefer working in larger cities where that have an upward mobility. Remember, Mexico is very much a classist society. On another note, Cuba has long had a reputation of the highest literacy rate of most Spanish speaking countries and boasts of excellent universities with highly trained doctors. The strategy to bring in Cuban specialists to remote areas is spot on in order to address the need. In the meantime, with many new medical schools being built across the country in this current government, in time Mexico will resurge with many doctors available.
My understanding agrees with your assessment. Cuba has long had a reputation for very high quality medical care and has exported it to many countries around the world, though I think this is a political move by the President
I agree. Mexico has many doctors, but most of them prefer to work in cities and not in rural areas.
Are these Cuban doctors currently working in Cuba? Have they just graduated medical school? What kind of experience do they have? Are they guaranteed a certain number of years of employment? How dedicated will they be working in Mexico? Who will supervise and oversee their practices? Can they be fired? Lots of questions,. Who has the answers?
The Cuban doctor situation totally reflects that AMLO is more dedicated to the Cuban Revolution and its mass murder and incarceration of Cuban patriots than he is a patriotic Mexican who was bred on “Death to bad gover .” AMLO please present a number of government officials who can prove that 51,000 Mexican doctors refuse to work in the boonies.
If there is a shortage why isn’t the government building more medical colleges? Aren’t they needed more than the 243 passengers riding the Maya Train today or than an oil refinary when the Mexican government is producing a tiny fraction of oil than they did in 1916 when the magnificent “Blue Heavan” oil well in Tampico produced more oil from that one well than most other countries did as a country.
Claudia, please rectify this abhorrent behaviour of a man who has failed as President. Do it for all the women who were murdered because they, like you, were women.
I know doctors who are underutilized, in part because they simply could not afford to go to specialty schools. There are ample slots for regular medical students, but the specialty schools are expensive and study there does not seem supported by the government. Please tell me if I am wrong.
There are abundant doctors, proven by the ease in getting an appointment. But if Mexico needs more specialists, it only has to provide loans and grants for their study.
If the doctors work in poor rural areas and/or poor urban areas and live there. This plan could work. Might need some Cuban Doctors in the United State in our poor rural areas and/or poor urban areas. Having a primary care doctor is difficult to impossible. Cuba does seem to spend a great deal of money on training doctors and teachers. Cuba does have a literacy rate equal to Sweden. Cuba does not have experience in modern medical technology. Yet, learning to live and deliver services without high tech could be an advantage, also.
The more doctors in a country, the lower the prices. Medical schools create Scarcity. It is not a profound truth that medical residents doing their one year of national service would prefer a city to a rural community where doctors are most needed. I applaud AMLO on this decision. The rich always find good medical care; it is the poor who die prematurely. Cuban has a reputation for superior primary health care.