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Aníbal has been planning his departure from Cuba for months. A relative abroad will help him with the ticket to Managua and from there he will begin his journey to the United States. But this 29-year-old doctor from Guantanamo has encountered an obstacle that has paralyzed his departure: he is regulated by the Ministry of Public Health and cannot leave the Island.

“I found out when I went to get my passport and the office employee told me: ‘Pipo, you are regulated by the Minsap (Ministry of Public Health), you can’t even have a passport.’ That was about six months ago, and no one notified me in advance,” laments Aníbal, name changed to avoid reprisals. “In Guantánamo there are dozens of doctors in the same situation and no one gives us an answer, we only receive evasions.”

Aníbal graduated more than six years ago from the Faculty of Medicine in the city of Guantánamo, but is now practicing Comprehensive General Medicine (MGI) for the second year, precisely because he knew that the specialists were being regulated. “As I knew for some time that I wanted to emigrate, I preferred to work as an MGI,” he details to 14 intervene.

Aníbal practices Comprehensive General Medicine for the second year, precisely because he knew that specialists were being ‘regulated’

“I made a complaint to the Department of Human Resources of the Ministry of Health here in Guantánamo, but everything remains the same. Two months ago I verified again that I can’t even get a passport,” denounces the young doctor. “The head of that Department is called Margarita and she is the one who attends to the regulated. “She is supposed to send emails to the ministry in Havana to unblock our cases, but we have been doing this for months and nothing changes.”

Aníbal’s story contradicts a statement made by the Ministry of Public Health last August, when it denied information circulating on social networks about supposed new regulations for the entry and exit of the country for workers in the sector. Georgina Álvarez, communications director of the entity, then called not to take as true any rumor of this type that was not confirmed by official channels.

But that denial did not calm things down and uncovered a wave of testimonies that indicated just the opposite. “I haven’t been practicing as a doctor for more than a year and after that time I asked for ‘permanent deregulation’ for family reunification and it was denied,” she wrote. a commentator who identified herself as Beatriz at the bottom of the note published in the official media.

This newspaper tried, without success, to obtain an answer about the doctors regulated through the Facebook page of the Ministry of Public Health in Guantánamo and other provinces. The situation seems to be unequal depending on the territory and “the contacts that the doctor has,” considers Aníbal.

The situation seems to be unequal depending on the territory and “the contacts that the doctor has,” says Aníbal.

Every Thursday, the Guantánamo Human Resources office assists doctors who are in a situation similar to that of Aníbal. “Every time I go, the lines are huge. Many of those who are there are for that same procedure, so I estimate that there are dozens, if not more than a hundred of us who are there.” regulated of doctors those of us are regulated in this province,” he adds. “I dial at six in the morning and at that time there are people.”

“It is arbitrary because the majority of us who are regulated We appear on the papers as if we were specialists or final-year residents, even though we are not,” Aníbal questions. “Those who are in that situation are more than limited in traveling, but now the prohibition has been extended to others who do not even We don’t even meet those requirements.”

The doctor also recognizes that many of his colleagues choose to stop working in the sector for fear of not being able to leave the Island: “Those who are in line are there to complain because they are prevented from leaving the country or to withdraw from Public Health, which is almost the same, because many ask for leave to be able to emigrate later.

In his opinion, the version of the head of the Department is false and the intention is to prevent doctors from continuing to leave. “But not by improving salary or working conditions, but by force, by obligation.” Aníbal also questions that his colleagues have not joined together to protest before the Health authorities: “Here the way that some of us have found is to report in the independent press, but nothing more.”

In his opinion, the version of the head of the Department is false and the intention is to prevent doctors from continuing to leave. “But not by improving salary or working conditions, but by force, by obligation”

“From my year of studies, there are few left in practice and those of us who are working as doctors are regulated. The others are selling pizzas, food,” he explains. “I myself should have come back from vacation, but I don’t think I’m going to do it because I can’t take it anymore. They are pushing me to ask for resignation. “Right now, working in Public Health and wanting to travel is not compatible.”

In his case, the decision was made years ago: “Honestly, my trip is to emigrate. I plan to go through Nicaragua, from there I will arrive in Mexico and, from that country, my family in the United States will help me obtain the parole humanitarian to reach Miami”.

Anibal does not lose hope, seeing that some of his colleagues have managed to resolve their situation. This is the case of a nephrologist with more than 20 years of experience, who stopped practicing in 2020. “She knew that to get out of here she could not continue in Public Health,” says her daughter Dayana. “She was regulated for a long time but a few weeks ago they allowed him to get a passport, so it seems that he is going to manage to emigrate.

Dayana is a fourth-year medical student, but she has just withdrawn from the Guantánamo faculty. “I should have started my fifth year now but I decided not to because everyone in my family is waiting for our parole to arrive and I was afraid that the ban on leaving the country would be extended to students.”

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