HAVANA.- The Cuban regime will send another 70 doctors to the Italian region of Calabria during the current month, in the midst of the crisis of medical personnel in hospitals that Cubans are suffering on the Island.
According to the official press, the Italian people appreciate the health care provided in Calabria by a Cuban medical brigade, made up of more than 270 professionals, to whom these 70 will be added in June, the web portal reports. CubaNet.
The governor of Calabria, Roberto Occhiuto, when making the announcement said that procedures are being carried out to facilitate the arrival of new specialists in areas such as emergencies, gynecology, orthopedics, radiology, cardiology and pediatrics from Cuba.
Pediatrician Iván Martínez, coordinator of the team in Crotone, said that although initially “it was not easy, the Cuban doctors, with their skills, overcame all mistrust and the experience so far is extraordinary.”
As part of the agreement signed in 2022 between Italy and the dictatorship for the hiring of 500 doctors, the first group of 51 Cuban doctors arrived in Calabria in December 2022. Subsequently, 120 were added in August 2023 and another 106 in January of this anus. Currently, the group is made up of 274 doctors, and after the next arrival of 70, the number will increase to 344, with the expectation of reaching 500 by the end of the year. This increase will allow the service to be expanded in 27 hospitals in the five Calabrian provinces: Catanzaro, Cosenza, Crotone, Reggio Calabria and Vibo Valentia.
Since the agreement with Havana was made public, Occhiuto has been criticized by Italians who argue that many national doctors are out of work, while foreign professionals are hired. Furthermore, his complicity with the Cuban regime, which sends specialists in exploitative labor conditions, has been denounced.
Among the organizations that denounce these agreements is Prisoners Defenders, which has condemned the governments of Mexico, Italy and Qatar for hiring Cuban professionals in “slavery conditions.” In a report, Prisoners Defenders pointed out that the contractual conditions of Cuban doctors abroad violate international labor standards, subjecting them to laws that “outrage the human condition to medieval limits in terms of servitude, slavery and human trafficking.”
In the case of Italy, Roberto Occhiuto has transgressed the labor standards of the International Labor Organization, the European Union and the Republic of Italy by hiring a Cuban medical brigade that operates under slave legislation, allowing the regime to confiscate 75 % of salaries. Each doctor costs Calabria 4,700 euros, but Cuban doctors only receive 1,200 euros in Italy as “reimbursement of expenses”, exempt from taxes, while the rest, 3,500 euros, is paid directly to the Cuban regime.
In a recent interview with CubaNet, Dr. Eugenio Corcioni, president of the Cosenza College of Physicians, explained that in Italy the title of Cuban doctors has not been adequately recognized, which does not guarantee the safety of citizens. Furthermore, he noted that Cuban doctors do not know the local language or technology, and are subject to strict surveillance and fierce disciplinary regulations.
Source: REDACCION/Cubanet
