A total of 497 doctors will be sent by Cuba to Calabria starting in September. This was revealed by the president of that Italian region, Roberto Occhiuto, in a video broadcast in their social networks this Wednesday.
The councilor justifies the decision due to the lack of personnel that, he assures, there are in hospitals throughout the country, but especially in Calabria, where there is “an unattractive health system.” Thus, he explains, “all the regions are doing everything to recruit doctors” and regrets that “most of the open competitions” have been deserted.
“Now what do we do? Do we close the hospitals? Do we close the guard body? Do we not guarantee the right to health of Calabrian citizens? No!” Occhiuto says forcefully to the camera, before announcing an agreement with the “state company of the Cuban Government”, referring to the Medical Services Marketerresponsible for the export of toilets, the first source of income for the regime.
The alderman, who belongs to the right-wing Forza Italia party, founded by Silvio Berlusconi, praises “the extraordinary work” carried out by the missions sent by Cuba to Italy in March 2020the most critical moment of the covid-19 pandemic for the European country.
In addition, he refers to the Comercializadora as “the same company of the Cuban Government that gives thousands of doctors to many countries of the world with great demands in terms of quality, of experience, because the Cuban medical school is one of the best known”.
The agreement, scheduled for three years, was signed this Wednesday at the Cuban Embassy, without the island’s authorities giving it publicity.
The agreement, scheduled for three years, was signed this Wednesday at the Cuban Embassy, without the island’s authorities giving it the usual publicity in these cases.
The italian local press He specifies that both parties have been negotiating for “weeks”, while detailing that Calabria will pay 3,500 euros per doctor to the Cuban company and 1,200 euros for maintenance, accommodation, travel and training.
The part that each of the cooperators will receive is not specified, although the Cuban government usually keeps 80% of the payment, a little more or less depending on the country, and delivers the remaining 20% to those hired.
To do this, warn The New Calabria, The Medical Services Marketer must set up a branch with headquarters in Catanzaro.
The regional newspaper makes the following rough calculation: “If the agreement were to go at full speed, that is, in the hypothesis that the 497 doctors announced by Occhiuto were employed at the same time in Calabria, the monthly cost would exceed 2.3 million euros. In one year, 28 million euros”.
Cuba is on the United States list of countries that fail to comply with international standards regarding human trafficking precisely because of its internationalist brigades, and the regime has been denounced for keeping health workers in a situation of slavery by international organizations such as Human Rights Watch either Prisoners Defenders.
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