martes, 17 de enero de 2017

Doctors enslaved abroad while Cuba deprived of them

Doctors enslaved abroad while Cuba deprived of them
DDC | Madrid | 16 de Enero de 2017 - 19:23 CET.

Two of the most important revenue sources for Castroism's economic
survival are family remittances and the export of medical personnel.
Cuban doctors abroad work and live on a basis that is tantamount to
slavery, only having access to a fraction of their wages, their freedom
of movement restricted, and forced to get involved in political
campaigns with local populations, with which they are not even allowed
to interact in a private way. They are hostages of the Government,
enlisting in these programs towards the sole goal of saving some minimal
amounts allowing them to subsist after their return to Cuba.

The export of the country's doctors also helps the regime to garner
international recognition. But this is acknowledgment that entails a
smokescreen covering up their violations of the health workers' labor
and human rights. Until now, many of them had found a way out of their
dilemma by emigrating to the U.S.A. through other countries, allowing
them to reinvent their lives and obtain the kind of compensation to
which every professional aspires.

But by ending the parole program for Cuban doctors Obama has eliminated
this possibility for them. The president's statement argues that
favoring the emigration of doctors to the US could affect the Cuban
people: "By providing preferential treatment to Cuban medical personnel,
the medical parole program […] risks harming the Cuban people." But this
reasoning is based on a failure to acknowledge how Raúl Castro's regime
operates; the fact that Cuban doctors cannot emigrate to the USA does
not mean that they will decide to serve patients on the Island.

The economic outlook leaves the Cuban authorities so few options that
they will have to resort, increasingly, to exporting medical staff. In
the wake of the lifting of the "dry feet/wet feet" policy, as the total
amounts received from familiar remittances diminish, the numbers from
the export of doctors could become even greater.

Due to the Government's programs for the export of specialists, the
number of doctors per inhabitant in Cuba has already noticeably
diminished. Medical facilities lack professionals in some specialized
areas, and this situation is only going to get worse, regardless of what
Barack Obama has ordered. In spite of his good intentions, Obama is not
going to be able to improve the situation of Cuban patients, but he will
worsen that of many doctors.

In light of all this, Cuban American Senator Marco Rubio and House
Representative Carlos Curbelo are right to ask Donald Trump to restore
the program that favored Cuban health professionals.

Source: Doctors enslaved abroad while Cuba deprived of them | Diario de
Cuba - http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1484591004_28183.html

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