Mexico: wave of criticism of López Obrador for hiring 500 Cuban doctors

Mexico needs doctors, but there is no agreement on how to fill that gap. The solution offered by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will sign an agreement with Cuba so that half a thousand specialists from the island came to the country, but Mexican medical associations considered the agreement an offense against them and denounced that many citizens were unemployed or had temporary jobs, with very low wages or in areas of extreme insecurity.

Intemperate, the head of state adopted his decision and he was sent “to hell” with all his critics.

The truth is there are many health professionals in Mexico they don’t want to go somewhere because of fear of escalating violence — in instances where they died in the midst of shootings or were extorted or intimidated by criminals — or because of the isolation and unfriendly hospitality of some communities, where water or Internet is lacking, such as the Secretary of State. Health, Jorge Alcocer, was identified last week.

Cuban doctors are part of the Havana government’s foreign policy and, therefore, their recruitment has a strong connotation of political support for the island. The main criticism of this type of agreement is that the money released by Mexico goes to the Cuban government and, therefore, the Island State is the most beneficiary and not the doctors, who receive a small salary.

López Obrador, who visited Havana two weeks ago, said he would disclose the agreements to have transparency, but on previous occasions, similar promises have not been fulfilled.

Little or no good distribution?

According to a survey by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, in the second quarter of 2021 Mexico has 2,400 active doctors per 100,000 inhabitants, more than the Latin American average but less than the 3,500 average of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries.

Their monthly salary, according to the same survey, is from $ 870 on average for general practitioners, 1,000 for specialists and nearly 1,400 for those with the highest specialization.

For decades, as in other Latin American countries, health services have reached the most remote communities in just a few days, in caravans that make regular trips and they often leave medicines for the population.

The government said the main shortage was specialists which, according to figures from the Secretary of Health, now there are 107 per 100,000 people when the international recommendation is 230, more than double.

In 2020, precisely because of the crisis generated by the pandemic, Cuba sent Mexico a 585 supporting physicians. Now the agreement is to cover about 500 areas for specialists.

“No doctor who has recently graduated from universities wants to expose life in areas where crime reigns,” Sebastián Jiménez, a resident (scholar) who specializes in ophthalmology at a hospital in Mexico City, told Ansa .

The rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Enrique Graue, denied the shortage of doctors. “In the country there are enough doctors, but it is necessary to distribute them in a better way “, The person in charge of the most important public athenaeum in the country explained, saying 1,300 students attend the Faculty of Medicine of this entity every year.

Tough on opponents

Last Wednesday, at his usual morning press conference, López Obrador rejected criticism and would continue with his plans even in the face of opposition from national medical colleges.

“Why aren’t there doctors? And let the conservatives, the selfish, the hypocrites know that we will not back down even one step ”, the president declared. “We thank the people of Cuba, the Government of Cuba, the Cuban doctors for their solidarity,” he said.

On Saturday, Obrador further distanced himself from his resounding rejection of the protesters. At a press conference from Sonora, the president accused the opposition, saying that “These irresponsible corrupt people have left us without doctorsIn Mexico, we don’t have the doctors our people need.

Then, the president added that “we will take 500 Cuban medical specialists and that is very angry with the conservatives, because they know (…) Let them go to hell! Because the first thing is the health of the people , “said the president.

Faced with the wrath of medical associations, Deputy Minister of Health, Hugo López-Gatell, he challenged them to “deliver a list of Mexican specialists who are willing to work in distant places ”.

Amid the controversy, Obrador posted tweets from columnists accusing him of infiltrating “communist agents” in Mexico and blaming his “opponents” from the “neoliberal era” for the devastation. of the public health system, which he intended to make federal.

Source: ANSA, AFP, AP and EFE

PB