What do you need to know about the regulation of doctors in Cuba?

This has been a constant in recent years. With the rise of the emigration wave of Cubans, it was necessary for the government to repeatedly deny that there were any new regulations on the departure of doctors. Although this does not mean that they are not.

Cuba lost 12,000 doctors last year, according to official sources. However, the sector has not escaped the constant exodus of workers their salary They far outnumber the majority on the island, and the country’s deep crisis hits them equally.

Why does the Cuban government restrict doctors from leaving?

A revolutionary government report published in 2015 noted that “the migration of Cuban professionals in the health sector is a concern for the country.”

Along these lines, the text highlighted, “major specialties such as anesthesiology, general surgery, intensive care, cardiology, pediatrics, neurosurgery, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics and traumatology, neonatology, among others” are severely affected. Exit planning of key medical personnel.

Therefore, “to guarantee an efficient and quality health service to the people,” the Cuban leaders “decided to organize foreign trips for specific subjects of various specialized medical professionals who carry out important activities in the health services of the people and science. – Technical activity.”

Departure of doctors from Cuba

Later, in a work published in the Official Gazette GranmaThe move was explained at the time as “specialists and final-year residents in medical specialties–with exceptions, not including those in comprehensive general medicine–will perform vital activities to maintain health services for the population and scientific activities.” – technique”.

Therefore, nurses, graduates of health technologies (technicians), stomatologists or psychologists trained in this field are not affected.

Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) has come out They refuse In many cases, including 2023, there are new measures in this regard. That is, there are no immigration regulations for doctors specializing in comprehensive general medicine or recently graduated doctors, and the immigration policy approved in 2015 remains in place.

Health officials on the island noted that the measures “do not prohibit Cuban doctors from leaving, but rather allow them to organize to guarantee health services to the population.”

They have also assured that “specialist doctors who are legal immigrants will not face any difficulty in leaving the country as they will not be subject to these regulations.”