After completing their final year internships in Guyana and graduating in August, 92 Cuba-trained doctors are still waiting on their jobs.
“We came back last year August and we finished our five years in Cuba and we had to do our sixth year internship here,” one of the doctors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Stabroek News yesterday.
He said that two weeks after they came back, they were assigned to the different hospitals and were placed under the then Public Service Ministry. “We didn’t have any hiccups or problems during the internship and we got a stipend of $60,000 monthly,” he said, while noting that after they completed their internship in July and had a graduation in August, they did not hear anything from the new government on where and when they would have jobs. “After finishing the state exams, we didn’t hear back anything from anyone,” he added.
He explained that after the graduation, the Public Service Department said the Ministry of Public Health would be in charge of them. “They said we had to start with the registration process, which is handled by the Medical Council, which is under the Ministry of Public Health. When we contacted the Medical Council and inquired about the registration process, they would always tell us to refer to the website and when we go on the website it would be vague and since it was our first time we were very confused,” he added.
He said after they finally figured out the required documents needed, they took them in, only to be greeted by more ambiguous instructions. He said that the Medical Council did not tell them when they should expect to be registered and now they are in limbo.
“We had an orientation with several officials from the ministry in September but they never told us anything about when we would be placed and when we would get our jobs. Even when we questioned Dr. Morris Edwards, who is the acting Chief Medical Officer, he said he didn’t know and he would get back to us. But up to now no one has told us anything and we are just here,” he added.
Stabroek News was unable to contact anyone at the Ministry of Public Health who would comment on the issue.
