The name of the programme is Cuban medical internationalism where the country send doctors to other part of the world and brings medical students for training and patients for treatment in Cuba. That program made doctors one of the the most important export of Cuba. Teachers is another important human export.
According to World Bank data in 2010 she has 6.7 physicians per thousand, off course more than 2.7, 2.4 ,3.7 and 2.3 in United Kingdom, United States, Germany and Japan respectively. And minimum recommendation of World Health Organisation(WHO being one doctor per 1,000 person population Cuba definitely have enough to go around and share and the business would bring in about $6 billion in 2014 to Government according to Newsweek report. .
Cuba's new Premier Fidel Castro (center) during a visit to Washington, DC, shortly after the January revolution in Cuba |
According to Wikipedia, the country provides more medical personnel to the developing world than all the G8 countries combined. The program which has her root in the Castro anti-colonial stance and initiated first in Algeria when the French withdraw her medical personnels in 1963 giving birth to Cuba Physician -Export Industry when she sent a small medical team to help the country. She does not have this kind of medical manpower surplus then. Since then over 90 countries have benefited from the program through about 40,000 doctors. They are and were everywhere from Venezuela,Brazil, Haiti, Gambia to Nicaragua etc. They even made offer of 1,500 medical personnel to US during the Hurrican Kristina disaster but George Bush turned it down. In 2012, this human capital export saw to it that about 15,000 medical doctors work in about 66 countries word-wide.
All this while this probably did not win Cuba praise in the Developed World until the present mobilization to help fight Ebola in worst hit Western Africa countries then everybody start saying hi, good job Cuba for helping out! In last quarter of 2014 about 200 were sent to the region.
The Government subsidized medical schools on the island for both indigenes and non indigenes in process churning out these large number of doctors and in turn seek to export the surplus after having enough for domestic use.The economics does look good and have come under repeated criticism due to "exporting of professional commodity', recurrently occurring accusation that bulk of the money does not get to the workers but the State profiteering from human workforce. For example from the medical workforce sent to Venezuela around 2000, Cuba made approximately $3 billion paid for with crude oil. However the Government have been altruistic in many other countries where such endevour did not generate significant political or economic returns.
Depending on the side you are you may appreciate the humanitarianism-intervention in international disasters, sending doctors where there are few doctors,intervening in broken Third World countries health system,attempt at offsetting the global medical workforce deficit or the bitter health workforce going through the subtle business process, and some do defect, an escape from organised slavery. Or in another vein the perceived threat to local physician workforce.Certainly it would most likely generate reactions whatever the divide you are, it can even be seen as a human right issue.
Go to Home Page here
LIKE JOB FOR DOCTORS facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/jobfordoctors, if U have not done that already.
OR
Just click on LIKE the Facebook widget on the right side of this page
Articles that might interest you on JOB4DOCTORS
Just click on LIKE the Facebook widget on the right side of this page
Feel FREE to SHARE this article without alteration!
****************
SHARE/Tag your friends.
Join to get that needed info!
Articles that might interest you on JOB4DOCTORS
- 10 great Research Grant sites
- What Reference Manager do you use?(1)
- BOOK REVIEW: Recipe for Successful Residency Training
- Great Physician in History- Ernst Moro
- Patients' changing trends!
- Free online short courses to help your Healthcare Management skills
- Advancing your career through CDC opportunities
- Burnout Syndrome, Are you burnt out?
- Differentiating doctors
- 7 great attitude to survive internship year
- Grants for Postgraduate Career Development
- Don't Get Swindled! The Swindler on the prowl!!
- Hipporates in Images
- GSK Race to Ebola vaccine
- 10 top mobile apps recommended for doctors and other health workers
- 16 important websites for every day clinicians
- Top medical online/distant learning Master degree programs
- 7 top migration destinations for doctors
- Top 6 countries with best mean compensations for doctors
- 10 steps to handling angry patients
- 4 Topmost African General Medical Journals
- 7 topmost General Medical Journals in the World
- Top 6 countries with best mean compensations for doctors
- 7 ways of boosting your income as a doctor