Five weeks after Cuba decided to pull out of Brazil’s More Doctors program, leaving medical vacancies across some of the country’s neediest areas, only 69 percent of the spaces have been effectively restaffed.
The Ministry of Health set a deadline of December 12 for the 8,411 Brazilian applicants to show up to their new posts, but were forced to extend the term twice due to the unimpressive numbers. The final deadline passed on Monday. By this morning, only 5,972 doctors have turned up to work in the program, meaning 29 percent have chosen to abandon the places they were awarded.
Brazil’s lauded More Doctors program was thrust into crisis last month when the government of Cuba announced it was sending its professionals home, due to promises made by president-elect Jair Bolsonaro to toughen up the rules of selection.
The program was instated in 2013 to expand medical care in the country’s neediest areas, inviting foreign doctors to come and work...
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