Despite failure and controversy that its first edition was generated, Mexico maintains the scholarship program of the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt), this year to study one of 13 medical specialties in Cuba. The Health Institute for Well-being (Insabi), according to the announcement, “invites” health workers who passed the residency exam to consider this option.
At the beginning of December there were many interested parties, but on the morning of this Friday, the day the registration expires, “there were not even 60 doctors in the database,” a Conacyt source tells 14ymedio.
As part of the first call for this program, 172 residents are currently studying their specialty on the island. They were the ones who accepted the scholarship in Cuba out of the 1,000 offered in December of last year by the Mexican government.
This 2021 the call offers some changes, for example that there is no limit of places – they will give the scholarship to those who accept, of the 17,000 applicants to the specialty exam – and that they will grant the scholarship doctors a monthly support of 1,090 euros. “For those selected who are married, 1,362 euros will be deposited each month,” explained the Conacyt collaborator. “Mexico covers the expenses and Cuba is in charge of administering.”
Like last year, the euros that the Mexican Government grants for “maintenance” to doctors will be deposited into an account of the Banco Popular de Ahorro
What the Cuban Government will receive for each student and specialty, according to the tab that appears in the call itself, is much more: pathological anatomy, 7,800 euros; general surgery, 12,500; hygiene and epidemiology, 7,800; medical genetics, 12,500; geriatrics, 7,800; rehabilitation medicine, 9,900; intensive medicine, 12,500; internal medicine, 9,900; pulmonology, 7,800; ophthalmology, 12,500; clinical pathology, 9,900; psychiatry, 9,900, and traumatology and orthopedics, 12,500.
There is also a list of costs for health insurance that ranges from 231 euros, for those who are 18 years old, up to 753 euros, for those who are 40 years old that will be paid “directly”, the official documents say openly, to the Cuban Medical Services Marketer.
Like last year, the euros that the Mexican government grants for “maintenance” to the doctors will be deposited into an account of the Banco Popular de Ahorro, from where they can withdraw it in Cuban pesos at the current exchange rate.
The doctors who arrived on the island this year were subjected to PCR tests and had to keep a quarantine. This health protocol is paid for by the Mexican Government and “already has a cost of 150 dollars per person. It will be the Cuban health authorities that define the place where the doctors will stay for 10 days,” said the Conacyt source.
On January 6, 2022, the doctors who were accepted for a specialty in Cuba will be announced. To follow up the process, they must present a certificate with an academic degree, title or the professional examination certificate, a non-criminal background letter and a current medical certificate. Each document must be legalized, which costs $ 120 per original.
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