The Mexican government paid Cuba 9,667,115 dollars, between July 2022 and May of this year, for a contingent of 718 doctors, according to 14ymedio a source from the Ministry of Health who requests anonymity. Of the specialists, 128 are still receiving training or processing the necessary documentation to practice, the remaining 590 have already been distributed in 11 states of Mexico.
Among the 128 Cuban health workers who are undergoing training, there are 18 specialists who were rejected in Morelos for not have a professional license. “These doctors are in the same state and their documentation is being expedited to be forwarded to another region.”
According to the official transparency portal -public access information platform-, the contract, which entered into force in May 2022, requires a monthly payment of 1,177,300 euros by the Mexican party for the services of 610 toilets. The payment was initially established under the name of the Cuban Medical Services Marketer, but since September it was redirected to the Neuronic Mexicana company, which depends on Neuronic SA Cuba.
Since 2018, according to the official, Neuronic Mexicana has been the representative of the products and services of the island’s biotechnological and pharmaceutical industry and is under the presidency of the Cuban Tania Guerra. The company “is in charge of receiving the salary of the Cuban specialists.” In short, “it guards and manages the funds that the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) allocates to the contingent,” he says.
The doctors who arrived in the middle of last year with the intention of establishing a base in the Montaña de Guerrero, one of the most controversial points in Mexico due to its high poverty rates and the presence of several cartels that dispute the transportation channels of drugs, have been relocated to the states of Baja California Sur, Campeche, Colima, Michoacán, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Sonora, Tlaxcala, Veracruz and Zacatecas.
According to official data from the federal Ministry of Health, only 43 specialists in cardiology, otorhinolaryngology and gastroenterology were sent, although they had also promised the arrival of pediatricians. Despite this, the state government, led by an ally of President López Obrador, announced the increase in consultations and the improvement of medical services.
In the Ometepec region, located on the Costa Chica in Guerrero, three Cubans were admitted to the Tomás Molina hospital in the last week of June. These physicians “cannot speak to the media,” a nurse from the medical center itself confirmed to 14ymedio by telephone. “Annell [la cardióloga] cannot attend them, both she and the dermatologist and the other doctor need authorization from their coordinator” Alfredo González Lorenzo, the nurse replied when this medium requested direct contact with the Cuban specialists.
As part of the Guerrero health project for this year, the deployment of four Cuban psychiatrists in mental health caravans was announced who, in addition to offering itinerant services, will collaborate in the hospitals of San Marcos, Tlapa, Coyuca de Catalán and Chilpancingo. The plan has been questioned by the presence of mental health specialists, when the main causes of death in the state are diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
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