MIAMI, United States. — Authorities from the state of Tamaulipas, on the southern border of Mexico, want to recruit Cuban doctors to cover the shortage of doctors in rural areas.
In statements to the newspaper Today TamaulipasVicente Joel Hernández Navarro, Secretary of Health of the state, assured that the hiring of Cuban professionals “is an option (…) to cover the demand for specialists (…), mainly in rural communities, where doctors only go one day to the week.
The Mexican official announced that “once the work tables that are currently being held are finished, the recruitment of Cuban doctors will begin to cover the lack of Mexican doctors, who refuse to leave the cities.”
Hernández indicated that Tamaulipas needs at least 1,000 health professionals including specialists, general practitioners and nursing staff.
The Secretary of Health explained that it is the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) that is in charge of hiring the island’s doctors.
“After the agreement that was signed in Tampico, in February, the work tables have been made. The IMSS hires doctors, and it seems to me that there are hired people out there, specialists that are needed within the region to be able to meet the demand of our patients,” said Hernández.
According to the official, in Nayarit, one of the federal entities that already has Cuban doctors, delayed appointments have decreased and attention to the population has improved.
“I saw something very interesting in Nayarit, in all the places where there is little circumstance for the Mexican specialist doctor to leave, for example Jaumave or Abasolo, that there are specialist doctors, but they go one day a week and return, not They leave the city,” he added.
The hiring of Cuban doctors in Mexico has generated controversy and dissatisfaction among health professionals in that country. Many of them claim to be disadvantaged by the massive arrival of doctors from the Caribbean country.
Last April it emerged that at least 20 Cuban doctors hired by the Government of Mexico to the island’s regime lacked a certificate that accredited them as specialists.
The news was released after a supervision carried out by the health centers of Axochiapan, Ocuituco, Tetecala and Temixco, which verified that the specialty of the Cuban doctors “did not correspond to what was required in these hospitals.”
