Brazil Seeks to Replace Cuban Doctors with Brazilians in Rural Health Program
Brazil Seeks to Replace Cuban Doctors with Brazilians in Rural Health Program
Plans to replace up to 4,000 Cuban doctors with Brazilians in next three years
By Rogerio Jelmayer
Sept. 21, 2016 9:18 a.m. ET
SÃO PAULO—The Brazilian government said Wednesday it plans to greatly reduce the number of Cuban doctors working in a health care initiative that has brought thousands of physicians from the Caribbean island to underserved communities across the South American nation.
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The program was started by former President Dilma Rousseff, whose leftist Workers’ Party has historic ties with Cuban leaders. At the time it was created, the initiative generated huge controversy among Brazilian medical associations, which claimed the foreign doctors weren’t well prepared and had poor skills, putting Brazilians’ health at risk.
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The medical program was created to address a dysfunctional health system. In 2010, Brazil had 1.8 doctors to 1,000 people, according to the World Health Organization, and the level was far lower in many rural and poor regions that struggled to attract physicians. In Cuba, by contrast, the ratio that year—the latest for which data are available—was 6.7 per 1,000.
Currently, almost half of Brazilian municipalities have only Mais Médicos doctors, according to health ministry figures, reaching around 63 million people.
More:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/brazil-seeks-to-replace-cuban-doctors-with-brazilians-in-rural-health-program-1474463903