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.

After tourism, revenue from professional services, mainly medical services is the main source of foreign exchange for the country. Between 2011 to 2015, the country has generated an annual average revenue of USD11.54 billion.

Cuban health professionals are present in 24 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, 27 in Sub-Saharan Africa, two in Middle East and North Africa and seven from East Asia and the Pacific. The country does not have the accurate number of professionals involved however, estimates by Ministry of Health show that by mid-2015 there were more than 50,000 professionals with half of them being doctors.

Venezuela and Brazil are the most important markets in Latin America and Caribbean islands. The important markets include Qatar, Kuwait, China, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. Revenue from Cuba’s largest trading partner, Venezuela for medical services was USD2.8 billion in 2016. The island also offers free services through the Integral Health Program for 27 countries with fewer resources, such as Haiti, Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Ethiopia, Congo, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

In 2016 Cuba had 90,161 doctors, including those working abroad. Along with free education, the Cuba has universal healthcare system with the Cuban state financing the health system. A total of 493,368 people work in the healthcare system including 16,852 dentists, 89,072 nurses and 63,471 technicians. The island also conducts training of doctors from other nations in the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM).