Entity defended the program as a public health policy and declared support for longtime cooperation between Cuba and Brazil in the area of health
The Association of Cuban doctors in Brazil (Aspromed) repudiated the sanctions of the United States government to public managers involved with the structuring of the Mais Médicos program, as well as declaring support for longtime cooperation between Cuba and Brazil in the area of health. This week, the State Department of revoked the visas of Brazilian government officials linked to the implementation of the program . The visas of Mozart Julio Tabosa Sales, secretary of specialized health care of the Ministry of Health, and Alberto Kleiman, former advisor to International Relations of the portfolio and current general coordinator for COP30. The Minister of Health, Alexandre Padilha, and his family members were also sanctioned.
In a statement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio justifies that the servers would have contributed to a “forced labor export scheme of the Cuban regime” through Mais Médicos. In a note of repudiation, Aspromed highlighted the role of more doctors as a public health policy to ensure the right to health for all, “especially for the low -income population who lives in less privileged regions across the country.” Righting the thesis of the United States Secretary of State, the association’s board of directors said Cuban doctors who remain in Brazil do so by their own choice.
“Many already naturalized, with Brazilian families and deep affective ties with the country, will continue to act with dedication to the most needy communities, bringing care and care to people living in adverse conditions, in the most distant corners of the national territory,” said the note. According to Aspromed, the 18,000 doctors who worked in the program performed about 63 million care, “strengthening and legitimizing the largest health system, universal, public and free, SUS.”
The agreement with Cuba ended in 2018 and part of the doctors chose to stay in the country, 2,500 according to the association’s estimate. The program served small cities and indigenous districts where the presence of health professionals was historically smaller, but was also remarkable in the peripheries of the large metropolises.
*With information from Agência Brasil
