14ymedio, Madrid, April 15th, 2020 — The Cuban health workers who petitioned the Spanish government for recognition of their degrees in order to join the National Health System are gaining results and already are the foreigners who have received the most work permits in the past month. The Ministry of Spanish Universities has recognized the degrees of 134 Cubans so far in 2020; 82 of these during the state of emergency which was went into effect the 15th of March, 2020, according to the statistics the department has provided 14ymedio.
Despite being an important step forward, this progress does not mean the immediate setting to work, since in order to work they need to join the national system, a process which requires a certificate of a clean record to be sent from Havana, which according to the doctors usually takes around two months.
All told, the Venezuelans have been the health care workers who have received the most certifications since January, with 269, of which 52 were granted during this period of emergency. Columbians are another of the most favored nations, with 172 certifications of which 68 came about in this month.
Of the 416 certifications realized during the emergency period (1,083 this year), 343 have been for physicians, 43 for nurses and 28 for others such as physical therapists and nutritionists.
During the Covid-19 crisis which has hit Spain with force, the Ministry has established a new protocol which prioritizes the recognition of professionals from the health care field who already have begun the paperwork process though it be unfulfilled for administrative reasons. Additionally, the Ministry has urged those applicants whose files are held up for lack of accreditation that they turn in any outstanding documents in order to finalize the process.
The Ministry works jointly with the Ministry of Education and Professional Training which also has certified, as of March 31st, 223 degrees of foreign professionals in the branch of health care. Eighty percent of these (of which 85% are nurses aides) come from Latin America, especially Columbia. This group also will serve to reinforce the Spanish health care system.
Another of the departments that take part in this process is the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, which has facilitated the process in order to issue the work permits which were already in process, of which it has already delivered 90.
Toward the end of March, a group of Cuban health workers residing in Spain opened a petition in Change.org making themselves available to health authorities in the battle against the corona virus. The group said it has more than 200 professionals awaiting certification of its degrees, and asked that the process be expedited, reiterating their “duty and readiness to be useful in this singular period of the battle against the corona virus.”
The latest data from Spain indicate that the epidemic is holding in a state of slow decline. This Tuesday, the total number of infected rose to 177,633; the deceased are 18,579 and the cured are 70,853.
Translated by: Pedro Antonio Gallet Gobin
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