Almost a week after the arrival of 54 Cuban doctors to the state of Nayarit, they are still not allowed to offer consultations in the territory. A source from the local health sector confirmed to 14ymedio that they must undergo “study evaluations” before providing services in the hospitals of the seven marginal zones and the Tepic clinic to which they were assigned in Mexico.
On Thursday, the Secretary of Health of Nayarit, José Francisco Munguía, agreed that the island’s doctors be evaluated. “The [prueba] what they do to them today defines whether they are ready,” he said, because, although “they are already demanding them” in the units, Cuban health workers must have “leverage in the Directorate of Professionals,” a document that is also required of national doctors.
The article 5 of the Mexican Constitution establishes that, for the “exercise of one or several specialties, authorization from the General Directorate of Professions is required”. The retired minister of the nation’s Supreme Court of Justice, José Ramón Cossío, explained that to opt for this permit, Cuban health workers “must obtain the corresponding certificate.”
Article 5 of the Mexican Constitution establishes that, for the “exercise of one or several specialties, authorization from the General Directorate of Professions is required”
Sofía, a Mexican specialist who has had contact with the Cuban brigade, questioned the validity of the evaluation: “What they have received are talks by some colleagues on specific issues and administrative training.”
One of these talks was offered by cardiologist Alejandra González, from the High Specialty Cardiology Unit. According to what the specialist pointed out, during the exchange of opinions on the treatment to be followed in patients with acute infarction, she was able to gauge the level of Cuban health workers.
“There I knew that there was nothing to discuss, that we are in two parallel worlds, different worlds in which the Mexican government romantically wants to see doctors from a third world country as a salvation,” Gónzalez said on his social networks.
The Mexican cardiologist specified: “Specialists asking me for the ppt file [diapositivas] to read again from there! I am perhaps more disappointed than upset, and perhaps I am judging and generalizing, but if we examine them I do not think they are ready yet.
The lack of preparation of the doctors was also questioned by Gabriel Quadri, an opposition deputy to the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who also filed a complaint in March with the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic “for human trafficking, labor exploitation and forced labor “, upon confirming the hiring of 500 Cuban doctors by the Government of Mexico.
A report revealed that the island’s doctors who arrived last year to support Mexico during the pandemic limited themselves to “ make beds, take vital signscarry out surveys, in addition to passing sponges to patients to bathe”.
In the hospital of the municipality of Rosamorada, however, they claim to have no knowledge of the causes of the delay. In this health center, to which eight Cuban doctors will arrive, 30 to 34 specialized consultations are offered
14ymedio verified that the 54 Cuban doctors who are currently in the country are staying at the La Palomas hotel. “We are full due to a medical convention, but as of August 1 there is availability in the 75 rooms we have,” said the receptionist, by phone.
The hotel, whose cost ranges from 52 to 83 dollars per night, has 67 standard rooms, six junior suites and two suites, all with cable TV, telephone, air conditioning and wireless network. Guests have free access to the pool and a jacuzzi.
The deputy of the opposition National Action Party, Mariana Gómez del Campo, expressed her disagreement with the hiring of 500 Cuban health workers by the Government of Mexico, “since the purpose of these missions is to enslave and exploit people.” According to her, she says, so that they can practice “they need a Mexican professional license” that they still “do not have.”
In Ixtlán del Río, one of the municipal capitals of Nayarit to which the health workers are expected to arrive, a residence for two internists and two Cuban pediatricians has already been set up. In the municipal presidency they are aware that the delay is due to an administrative obstacle.
In the hospital of the municipality of Rosamorada, however, they claim to have no knowledge of the causes of the delay. In this health center, to which eight Cuban doctors will arrive, 30 to 34 specialized consultations are offered, and up to three surgeries and three deliveries have been performed per day.
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