Fidel Castro described the medics as Cuba's `army of white
coats`. Absolutely it was proved in many ongoing occasions. Cuba has long been
renowned for its medical diplomacy- thousands of its doctors work in health care
missions around the world, earning the country billions of dollars in cash. But
according to a new report, some of the doctors themselves say conditions can be
nightmarish - controlled by minders, subject to a curfew and posted to
extremely dangerous places said press reports. Dayli, now 31 years old, wanted
to be an intensive care specialist. She says that after graduating, she was
told that if she went on a medical mission to Venezuela, she would gain
experience in her chosen field and that it would count as her three years of
obligatory social service, which all graduates have to complete in Cuba before
gaining full-status posts.`I studied medicine out of vocation. I used to sleep
between three and four hours because I studied so hard. I worked hard in my
first year of practice, I took on a lot of extra shifts. And now here I am. I
cannot be a doctor in Cuba. It's very frustrating.` In October 2011, the young
doctor was posted to a clinic in the Venezuelan town of El Sombrero. `There
were many criminal gangs,` says Dayli. `When they fought, they brought their
injured to us, because the local Venezuelan hospital had a police presence, and
we didn't. These kids would bring in a patient with 12 or 15 bullets in his
body, point their guns at you and say you had to save him. If he died, you
would die. That kind of thing happened on a daily basis. It was routine.` The
wages on offer were another strong incentive for Dayli, who is originally from
the small Cuban city of Camagüey, to join up. Going from a doctor's salary on
the island of just $15 a month in 2011, she says she was paid $125 monthly for
the first six months in Venezuela, a figure that rose to $250 after six months
and $325 during her third year. Her family in Cuba also received a bonus of $50
a month. According to a report by Prisoners Defenders, a Spain-based NGO that
campaigns for human rights in Cuba and is linked to the Patriotic Union of Cuba
(UNPACU) opposition group, doctors on average receive between 10% and 25% of
the salary paid by the host countries, with the rest being kept by Cuba's
authorities.With more than 30,000 Cuban doctors currently active in 67
countries - many in Latin America and Africa, but also European nations
including Portugal and Italy. Cuba's authorities draw up strict rules in an
attempt to prevent citizens defecting once abroad.
