Brazil-Cuba: Cuba suspends sending of doctors to Brazil
The government of Cuba has suspended the travel of 710 professionals to Brazil trained to work in the Mais Médicos Program. The Cuban government decided this after observing a large number of doctors who refuse to return to Cuba after three years of work in the program.
The Ministry of Health had announced its intention to limit the number of Cubans travelling in this program. The reduction of the participation of foreign professionals, however, should be done gradually.
Medical care should not be disturbed especially in the regions where there is gap in permanent Brazilian doctors. The professionals arrive in Brazil through an agreement signed with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Cuban government. However, plans are to gradually reduce the number to 4,000 Cubans and replace them with Brazilian medical professionals.
In 2016, 10,400 Cubans were working in the program, a 1,000 less from 2015. The agreement signed between the Brazilian and Cuban government and the PAHO provided that professionals recruited on the program would stay in the country for three years.
Although the law allowed the group to spend three more years in Brazil, new agreement signed in September 2016 states that professionals recruited in the first cycle (~4,000) should return to the country for circulation of new set of professionals. Permission to extend the term for these professionals for another three years would be granted in case of established families in Brazil.
