The Mexican state of Tamaulipas wants to cover the lack of at least 1,000 jobs for nurses, general practitioners and specialists with Cuban health workers. A state official confirmed to 14ymedio that the Tamaulipas Secretary of Health, Vicente Joel Hernández Navarro, made the request to the federal Ministry of Health.
In the request, Hernández Navarro blamed the shortage of specialists on the refusal of Mexican doctors to “leave the cities” and go live in low-income areas, where their services are required.
“In the municipality of Abasolo there are general doctors and four specialists, who go once a week. So there is a minimum, if all shifts are covered, around 18 to 20 specialist doctors are needed,” the Secretary of Health stressed to local media. last week.
Tamaulipas requires specialists in internal medicine, pediatrics, general surgery, gynecology and obstetrics, emergencies and intensive care
The official said that “there are people hired,” including “specialists who are needed in the region.” Although he did not confirm the arrival of health workers from the island to the state, he knows that a flight with a group of Cubans landed in Mexico last Friday. “It will depend on the Imss [Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social] define the number of doctors and specialties that it sends”. However, the Government of Mexico has not offered details about these physicians.
Tamaulipas requires specialists in internal medicine, pediatrics, general surgery, gynecology and obstetrics, emergencies and intensive care. Despite the fact that the records of the Government of Mexico indicate that the rates of violence have been reduced, this year there have been road blockades, confrontations between drug cartels.
According to a report of Insight Crime, a foundation dedicated to investigating threats to security and citizenship in Latin America and the Caribbean, the state of Tamaulipas is disputed by the criminal groups of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, in addition to having records of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel and the Northeast Cartel. All these groups are dedicated to the kidnapping of migrants. Therefore, many Mexican doctors prefer to emigrate to other regions.
In March, the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that the Health agreement with Cuba was extended and would hire another 600 specialists from the Islandbut did not specify the date they will arrive or the salaries.
The request for these toilets is given in a state in which the vaccination campaign has been a failure against covid 19 with the application of Abdala, which the Government of Mexico bought 9,000,000 doses from Cuba. According to official figures, only 7% of the drug has been used. The federal Social Welfare Secretariat delivered 119,800 doses to the Tamaulipas authorities, while registration data indicates that 8,386 vaccines were applied until February.
The Cuban doctors assigned to Morelos did not see patients, they were only present in the consultations
In the state of Morelos, the leader of the state Health Secretariat union, Gil Magadán Salazar, confirmed to 14ymediothat the 18 Cuban specialists sent by the IMSS “simply were there during the hours specified in their contract, but they did not see patients, they were only present in consultations.”
Magadán Salazar stressed that the Cubans only had documents certifying them as general medicine doctors in their country, but they lacked certification from the Mexican health authorities, in addition to the fact that the Imss sent psychiatrists to hospitals that require cardiologists, surgeons vascular, gastroenterologists, internists, pediatricians. The Health authorities have not sent another 18 specialists to fill these vacancies.
Salazar mentioned that given the need for doctors in the clinics of Axochiapan, Tetecala, Temixco and Ocuituco, a new agreement will be signed, in which it will be specified that if the specialists are Cuban, they must present their documents and verify their level of preparation . “We don’t want another anesthesiologist who doesn’t even know how to put a block on.”
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