Brazil’s foreign minister denies ideological bias in hiring Cuban doctors

Criado em 22/08/13 15h52 e atualizado em 22/08/13 16h01
Por Renata Giraldi Edição:s Fonte:Agência Brasil

Brasília – Brazil’s minister of Foreign Relations Antonio Patriota denied on Thursday (August 22) that the agreement for Cuban doctors to work in impoverished areas in Brazil is “ideologically biased”. He said that the motivation is humanitarian and aims at meeting the needs of the country.

Patriota restated that the agreement with Cuban professionals includes their evaluation and their experience with family care, but avoided talking about the salary of the Cuban doctors being managed by the Cuban government.

The foreign minister participated in a public hearing at the Commission for Foreign Relations of the Chamber of Deputies, which was designed for the discussion of issues related to Brazil’s overseas policies. “[The decision to hire Cuban doctors] was made with the purpose of providing the best possible services; there’s no ideological motivation; there are many Cuban doctors willing to do this sort of work, but maybe not many Austrian ones, for instance, willing to do this work,” he said.

“The question of attracting Cuban doctors has to do with the shortage of professionals in certain areas of Brazil. It’s a measure that’s adopted internationally as a health care strategy. The agreement with the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) assures us that our measures are among the best ones,” he pointed out. “The idea is to have interested doctors come to work. Our bias is humanitarian, not ideological.”

The Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday (August 21) that four thousand Cuban doctors are to come to Brazil until the end of the year to work in cities where doctors who signed in the More Doctors program were not interested in working. On August 26, 400 Cuban professionals are scheduled to come. They will undergo the same evaluation process as the one adopted by the program to assess doctors graduated abroad who have not revalidated their diplomas.

Editors: Graça Ajuto / Nira Foster
Translators: Fabrício Ferreira

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