Africa-Press – Cape verde. Yosmel Cabrera landed in Cape Verde in 2020 to help in the fight against Covid-19, but decided to stay and is now one of seven ‘deserted’ doctors from that country who are begging to continue living and practicing in the archipelago.
“I’m not asking for anything extraordinary, I’m simply asking to work and do the thing I love most, which is to be a doctor,” the general surgery doctor, one of the 33 Cuban specialists who arrived in April, told Lusa news agency. of 2020 to Cape Verde, one month after the first cases of covid-19 in the archipelago.
For three years, he worked most of his time at Hospital Batista de Sousa (HBS), in São Vicente, with various functions, within the scope of medical cooperation between the two countries, which has been going on for almost 50 years.
Before the cooperation period ended, he brought his family to Cape Verde, currently residing on the island of Sal, and has already tried to join the Order of Cape Verdean Doctors (OMC), but the condition is to have a work contract with the Ministry of Health.
Therefore, he said that he has already requested hearings from the Minister of Health, Filomena Gonçalves, and has already sent emails to other people responsible for the sector, expressing interest in continuing to work in Cape Verde’s National Health System (SNS).
“But until today no one has answered me”, lamented the clinician, trained in vascular surgery, appearing disappointed, because he never thought “that there would be so many problems, so many barriers from a legal and political point of view”.
But he assured that he will continue to knock on several doors, with the hope of resolving his situation, even though he believes that the person behind it is the Cuban embassy in Cape Verde.
“We are aware of the great diplomatic pressure that is being placed on the Ministry of Health so that this hiring of a free Cuban doctor in Cape Verde does not happen,” said Cabrera, one of seven doctors who are asking for “one more opportunity” in the country African.
The case is already known to the international movement SOS Cuba, in Cape Verde, which has also multiplied its calls for a resolution as soon as possible, as Yanira Monteiro, spokesperson for the group of compatriots residing in Praia, told Lusa. country.
“It is a situation that worries us a lot”, described the jurist who has lived in Cape Verde since 1995, highlighting that this is a human being who is in a situation of “serious fragility”, together with his wife and a four-year-old child.
The doctor is now considered a “traitor” in Cuba, and by law, he cannot return to the country for the next eight years and if he enters the island sooner he risks facing a prison sentence of three to eight years.
“But I don’t want to go back to Cuba because I simply chose Cape Verde as my second homeland. It’s the place where I want my son to grow up in peace, tranquility and freedom”, he told Lusa, via video call, from the island of Sal.
The SOS Cuba movement, which was born spontaneously in July 2021 in each country of Cuban residents, lamented the “injustice” and “violation” of human rights, in a country also full of emigrants and in need of this “highly qualified technician”.
Yanira Monteiro also protested against what she considers to be a “campaign” by the Cuban embassy in Cape Verde to indirectly “cover up” the doctors’ complaints, and explained that there are similar contracts in other countries, with a prohibition clause on the part of the ‘country’. guest’ to hire “cooperating” doctors after the mission.
Asked to comment on the matter, the President of the Cape Verdean Medical Association, Danielson da Veiga, confirmed that he had already received the request and explained that there are two ways of registering with the association, one directly for Cape Verdeans and the other for foreigners, who need of a contract with services authorized by the Ministry of Health, or exercise when there is reciprocity with another country.
Therefore, he said that the order cannot do anything in this case, remembering that there are “rules” in the country and asked his professional colleague for “patience”.
“Everyone who wanted to stay in Cape Verde followed normal procedures,” he said, saying that Yosmel Cabrera “left a negative mark” and created a “difficult situation” between the two countries with his criticism in the media.
For More News And Analysis About Cape verde Follow Africa-Press
