Cuban doctor in Brazilian program kills himself - official

Cuban doctor in Brazilian program kills himself - official
BRASILIA Tue Apr 1, 2014 2:05am BST

(Reuters) - A Cuban doctor who worked in a Brazilian government program
that hired thousands of foreign physicians committed suicide at a hotel
in the country's capital, the health ministry said on Monday.

The 52-year-old male doctor was found dead in a hotel room in what the
local police said was a suicide, a ministry spokesman said. The ministry
did not release the name of the doctor or more details about the death.

He was one of more than 7,000 Cubans who are in Brazil as part of a
program that hires foreign doctors to tend the sick in slums and remote
rural locations where there are no Brazilian physicians.

Since its start last year the "More Doctors" program has been roiled
with controversy as some Brazilian physicians tried to bar the entry of
Cuban doctors who they said threaten to undermine the country's medical
standards.

The defection of a Cuban doctor over low pay in February also raised
complaints by some opposition politicians who said the physicians were
being exploited.

Under an agreement signed with Cuba through the Pan-American Health
Organization, or PAHO, the Cubans get only one-fifth of the 10,000 reais
($4,100) a month that Brazil pays each physician in the program. The
rest goes to the Cuban state.

Still, most Brazilians living in poor slums that for years lacked the
most basic healthcare have welcomed the Cuban doctors, bolstering the
popularity of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, according to past polls.

An official with the Cuban embassy in Brasilia was not immediately
available for comment.

(Reporting by Alonso Soto)

Source: Cuban doctor in Brazilian program kills himself - official |
Reuters -
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/04/01/uk-brazil-cuban-death-idUKBREA3003520140401?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews