Bolivia protest over Cuba medics

Bolivia protest over Cuba medics

Doctors in the Bolivian capital La Paz have staged a protest against an
influx of Cuban medics offering free care in poor and rural parts of the
country.

The doctors, whose protest included offering free treatment themselves,
say the Cubans take jobs away from unemployed Bolivian doctors.

They want the Bolivian government to subsidise the national medical
service, so it is free at the point of delivery.

But the Bolivian President Evo Morales has accused the doctors of
selfishness.

Over 1,000 doctors are reported to have been dispatched by Cuba to
provide health services in Bolivia, along with several thousand in
Venezuela.

Cuba has reportedly equipped some 20 Bolivian hospitals and is behind
Operation Miracle, a drive to operate on the eyes of 14,000 Bolivians
with cataracts.

'Foreign influence'

Thursday's protest was the second organised by doctors from the Medical
College of La Paz.

The college president Eduardo Chavez, a driving force behind both
protests, said "a fundamental social pillar such as the health of a
people" should not be left in the hands of foreigners.

He complained that Bolivian doctors were not being given opportunities
to join the ranks of the Cuban doctors working in poor, undeveloped
areas of Bolivia - one of the poorest countries in the world.

And he said the recently elected government of Mr Morales should focus
their efforts on providing healthcare free at the point of delivery.

The protest comes amid growing criticism by opposition politicians of
what they say is the influence of the Cuban government in Bolivia.

'Medical inroads'

But Mr Morales has accused the doctors of acting selfishly and against
the interests of Bolivia's most disadvantaged people.

Deputy Health Minister Juan Alberto Nogales said Bolivia's health
indices were among "the worst in Latin America, if not the world", and
were a permanent preoccupation for the government, according to the news
agency Efe.

"In those places where we are supporting our Cuban colleagues there has
never been a medical service," he said, rejecting the doctors' assertion
that the Cubans were taking away jobs.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/5108498.stm

Published: 2006/06/22 23:23:45 GMT