At least five Cuban doctors who left the medical brigade in Calabria, Italy, are stuck in an administrative limbo preventing them from being hired by the provincial health system. Reports suggest that the Cuban regime is pressuring local authorities to block their employment, according to Diario de Cuba.
Sources familiar with the situation indicate that these irregularities may be linked to pressure from the Cuban medical mission's structure, aiming to stop professionals who leave the program from independently joining the Italian healthcare system.
The Challenge of Reentry
The doctors had served as specialists in the provinces of Reggio Calabria, Vibo Valentia, and Crotone. They expressed interest in directly working with the provincial health service (ASP) after learning of the regional government's plans to hire more foreign medical staff to address a severe shortage of professionals.
One doctor shared with Diario de Cuba that, upon trying to obtain his service certificate after leaving the mission, the ASP denied his request. Upon visiting the institution, he discovered a letter in his file purportedly sent on his behalf by Luis Enrique Pérez Ulloa, head of the Cuban medical mission in Italy, falsely stating his resignation.
Systematic Issues and Human Rights Concerns
This situation is not isolated. Other doctors have reported similar scenarios where Italian health authorities received unauthorized communications from the Cuban mission, leading to administrative blocks and preventing employment outside the official program.
These maneuvers are part of consistent administrative contradictions faced by doctors who choose to leave the missions. Human rights experts have documented this as a pattern of control and retaliation.
In some instances, employment decisions have been overturned verbally by officials, without documentation or legal basis, which legal experts say undermines due process and leaves professionals legally defenseless.
Even when official resolutions had approved some doctors' reintegration into the health system, these decisions were later informally revoked without written notice or legal justification, creating uncertainty and arbitrariness.
International Criticism and Economic Hardship
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights released a 199-page report detailing the conditions imposed on Cuban healthcare professionals abroad. It highlights that the Cuban state retains 75% of the salaries earned by doctors overseas, a practice the European Parliament has labeled as modern slavery.
Additionally, benefits such as housing are withdrawn, forcing doctors to bear the living costs themselves, increasing their economic vulnerability while still subject to the official program's restrictions.
This phenomenon is escalating, with dozens of doctors abandoning the missions in recent months in Italy amid growing international criticism of this medical service export model.
"My question is: how can a simple Cuban like Luis Enrique, who has no voice or vote in this country, wield such power over the health agencies to prevent us from working here in Italy, those of us who choose not to send money back to the Cuban Government?"
Understanding the Cuban Medical Mission Controversy
What obstacles do Cuban doctors face when leaving the medical mission?
Cuban doctors who leave the mission often encounter administrative blockades, unauthorized communications from the Cuban mission, and denial of necessary certifications to work independently.
How does the Cuban state financially impact doctors abroad?
The Cuban state retains 75% of the salaries earned by doctors working overseas, a practice criticized internationally as a form of modern slavery.
What has been the response to the Cuban medical service export model?
There is growing international criticism of Cuba's medical service export model, with increasing numbers of doctors leaving the missions and reports of rights violations being documented.