A Cuban Doctor Fights To Stay In Brazil Free Of Cuban Government Contract

A Cuban Doctor Fights To Stay In Brazil Free Of Cuban Government
Contract / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Miami, 31 October 2016 – She worked for three years at health
centers in Dourados, a region of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do
Sul, as part of the government program Mais Medicos (More Doctors).
Karem Guadalupe Saboit Valdes is fighting to stay beyond the three years
allowed under the contract between the Cuban government and the Pan
American Health Organization PAHO), according to reports in the
Brazilian newspaper O Progresso.

Saboit Valdes was the first doctor to reach the city, but her contract
expires on November 9 and she must return to Cuba. The doctor, in love
with the local people, is looking for ways to stay in Brazil without the
mediation of the Cuban government.

The Mais Medicos program was announced three years ago as a "bonus
mission" for Cuban doctors. Many were sent to third world countries
where they completed their service to fill the quotas offered by Dilma
Rousseff's government to Havana.

A week has passed since a court in Brasilia, in Saboit Valdes' case,
made the unprecedented decision that the Ministry of Health could renew
a contract directly with a Cuban doctor, without the mediation of PAHO
or the Cuban government. This decision means that, from now on, the
doctor will receive the total value of the agreement that the Ministry
of Health offers to foreign doctors who work in remote areas of Brazil,
some 11,500 reales (3,587 dollars). Until now, their salary has been
2,976 reales (928 dollars), with the difference pocketed by the Cuban
government.

In Dourados, the decision was seen as a victory for the doctors against
the authorities of the Cuban Medical Mission. Saboit Valdes, one of the
12 Cuban doctors serving in the city, believes that ruling will become a
source of inspiration for other doctors who want to stay in Brazil.

According to figures obtained by 14ymedio, so far this year 1,439 health
professionals have escaped from Brazil to the United States through the
Cuban Medical Professional Parole program, established by the US
specifically for Cuban doctors. Others have chosen to stay in Brazil and
revalidate their credentials. During the first ten months of this year
more than 1,600 Cuban doctors took the Brazilian medical licensing exams.

According to the Saboit Valdes, a native of Camagüey, the Cuban
professionals who establish families in Brazil should have the option of
staying in the country. "I'm married to a Brazilian and I have
strong emotional ties here. I am in love with this country. Despite not
having anything against Cuba, I would like to stay in Brazil. It is a
matter of choice," she says.

But marriages with foreigners are a taboo subject for the Cuban
government. The disciplinary regulations that all Cuban civilian workers
abroad must accept state that "if there is any loving relationship with
natives, [the Cuban government] must be informed immediately and it must
be in accord with the revolutionary thought of our stay and no action
can be excessive" (sic).

Saboit Valdes told the Brazilian newspaper that adapting herself to the
Brazilian reality is very easy, because there are few differences
between Cuba and the South American country. She has overcome the
language barrier and her intention is to continue growing professionally.

"There is a completely free and very organized structure, both in health
and education," she says.

The doctor, who as part of the Cuban contingent completed the
preparation course to work in the Brazilian Health System, plans to
revalidate her credentials to work for herself and even, in the future,
to open her own practice.

Source: A Cuban Doctor Fights To Stay In Brazil Free Of Cuban Government
Contract / 14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
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