The 69 Cuban physicians who were working in Brazil and received judicial orders to discontinue their activities in the Family Health program in the state of Tocantins, in the north of the country, embarked today from the airport in BrasÀlia back to Cuba.
According to the sentence, delivered by Judge Marcelo Velasco Albernaz, of the First Court of Justice of Tocantins, the Cuban doctors were working without diplomas recognized in Brazil.
The doctors had been working in Tocantins since 1997, under an agreement between the state and Cuba. They took care of a basically needy population in 60 municipalities.
The press office of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations declared that the problem will not cause a diplomatic incident between Brazil and Cuba.
The Cuban Ambassador to Brazil, Pedro Nuí±ez Mosquera, emphasized the quality of relations between the two countries, dismissing the possibility of there being any greater repercussions of the banning of the 69 Cuban physicians from practicing medicine in Tocantins.
“We have relations of the highest level in all spheres, including the field of health,” he remarked.
Agência Brasil