14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 11 April 2023 — The Cuban specialists who arrived last January in the Mexican state of Morelos and proclaimed their experience in Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Guatemala and Pakistan, “are not in position” because they lack a professional identification card. According to the president of the Federated Colleges of Medicine A.C., María Reyna Bárcenas Hurtado, “about 20 health workers” have already been returned to Mexico City.
Bárcenas Hurtado told 14ymedio that during monitoring by the health centers of Axochiapan, Ocuituco, Tetecala and Temixco, it was found that the specialties of the Cuban doctors “do not correspond to what is needed in these hospitals, especially in the Temixco region.”
The last week of March, the leader of the Union of the Ministry of Health, Gil Magadán Salazar, said that the specialists “had no experience” and stressed that “the official Mexican regulation requires doctors to have a professional credential to practice, and they don’t meet the requirement because they don’t have the document from Cuba.”
Magadán Salazar spoke of three cases: “One said he was an anesthesiologist, but he didn’t want to work. We have a dermatologist who has never given a consultation, and the others seem to be gerontologists, areas that we do not require.” That’s why they were enrolled in a training program.
According to Bárcenas Hurtado, the specialists “were supposed to go to meetings but never showed up.” In addition, he says that it is up to the federal authorities to let them know what is going to happen to these doctors.
Despite the fact that there is a letter signed by the Union of the Ministry of Health of Morelos noting that “they should not be hired” due to a lack of certification, a source confirmed to this media that “no payment has been stopped” to the Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos, S.A. For each specialist, the Cuban company, which is accused of human trafficking and forced labor, receives $2,042 per doctor each month.
The places that were left vacant, Bárcenas Hurtado explained, should be covered with specialists, but “we are waiting for the response to the letter presented to the state Ministry of Health.”
Meanwhile, in the state of San Luis Potosí, Governor Ricardo Gallardo Cardona confirmed last March, without specifying the number, the arrival of specialists from Cuba. On Monday, the state Ministry of Health and the Mexican Social Security Institute indicated that there are 113 places available, but it has not been defined how many will be filled by foreigners.
The College of the Medical Profession of the State of San Luis Potosí affirmed that Cuban health workers “are not prepared, and before being hired they must be certified by the Medical College.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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