Mexico City, Mexico — Mexico has announced an agreement with Cuba that will add another 2,700 doctors to the country. On Tuesday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced the signing of a health agreement with Cuba to add 2,700 specialist doctors to Mexico’s public health system.
The doctors will be assigned to the most remote communities and are in addition to the 950 medical specialists already hired from Cuba.
“I think we are doing well. I would like to reiterate that I am very grateful for the support of the Cuban people and government because they are helping us by sending us specialist doctors,” López Obrador said at his Tuesday morning press conference.
In addition to the 950 specialist doctors who already work in 23 Mexican states, this agreement will strengthen the operation of 282 basic, community and comprehensive hospitals located in rural or highly marginalized areas, reported the General Director of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), Zoé Robledo Aburto.
The newly recruited health workers will cover core specialties including internal medicine, pediatrics and emergency medicine. The workforce will thus increase from four doctors to an average of 12 in priority hospitals, where surgical interventions can now be carried out with a full staff.
In order to reverse the shortage of general physicians and specialists in the country, the Government of Mexico is promoting various recruitment calls which have resulted in the recruitment of 7,000 new health workers at the three levels of care.
“We have focused on ensuring that they have a sufficient number of specialist doctors so that the services offered, which the population expects to receive, can be carried out,” explained the head of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS).
As part of the reinforcement plan, more than 2,800 general physicians have been hired in nearly 12,000 health centers in the country. However, 3,646 medical personnel are still needed in 27 states including Baja California, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Mexico City, Coahuila, Colima, Durango, State of Mexico, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Michoacan, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Yucatan and Zacatecas.
