In Mexico, controversy continues over the hiring of 500 Cuban doctors to occupy remote areas or those affected by violence in the country. And now the president has launched a call to employ nearly 14,000 local doctors, in an apparent attempt to silence the angry criticism that is raining down these days.

The initiative of the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to use the Cuban regime’s so -called “white coat diplomacy” to get them to go to marginalized regions has reaped criticism from Federations, Associations and Colleges of Physicians.

These groups make sure that the real problem in Mexico is no properly installed premises, decent wages, medicine or equipment.

López Obrador justified his decision claiming to have a shortage of 50,000 doctors and Mexican specialists and many of the local professionals are reluctant to be assigned to remote or hard-to-reach areas.

But, faced with questions from professionals, the president proposed on Tuesday to hire 13,765 local doctors further. A measure received with caution by Drs. Juan Luis Salgado Loza, vice president of the College of Internal Medicine of Mexico, an organization that signed a protest letter.

“Initially, the president commented that it would be an immediate hire. It probably won’t be immediate. The contracts are not basic but part-time. It’s clearly unlikely that all of these positions will be can be filled “, observed Juan Luis SalgadoLoza.

replied López Obrador

Offered by the president of Mexico hard words those who questioned the decision to appeal to Cuban doctors.

“It’s disgusting that, for political, ideological reasons, conservatism, a retrograde way of thinking, these professionals don’t qualify,” he said.

López Obrador thanked Cuban professionals for their support during the covid-19 pandemic.

The Mexican president requested the removal of his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel, on a visit to Havana on May 8, where it was also agreed to buy pediatric vaccines against covid-19 from the island.

“We’re not against doctors getting to go,” Drs. Salgado Loza.

“In Mexico, there are a lot of foreign doctors who provide their care and are properly certified to provide this care. So we’re not retrograding and we also don’t want to maintain the status quo. The only thing we want is before offering resources abroad, it meets the needs of health professionals in Mexico. Many leave the profession because they do not have a decent salary or place to practice the profession, “said Salgado Loza, interviewed by RFI.

It should be noted that Cuban medical missions have been criticized for being subject to significant salary restraints and surveillance.

In 2020, the United Nations, through a special reporter on contemporary forms of slavery, and a reporter on human trafficking, described the work of Cuban doctors abroad as “forced labor.”

Source: RFI