Law package approved in Florida benefits Cuban doctors

A new package of laws approved in Florida could pave the way for thousands of Cuban doctors to revalidate their degrees in the United States.

Julio César Alfonso, president of Solidaridad sin Fronteras, explained that the package of measures opens the doors to incorporate these professionals into the health system in Florida, as it eliminates several obstacles, including the difficult requirement of medical residency prior to revalidation and It could even eliminate the need for so-called Step exams, he reportedAmerica TeVe.

Law SB-7016 benefits any medical professional who graduated in a foreign country and remains active for three or four years in any foreign country before its application.

"The main requirement to be chosen is to have actively practiced medicine in any country in the three years prior to the application. That they have been seeing patients," he said.

According to Alfonso, these doctors can apply to obtain a valid medical license in Florida without going through the residency period and even "some steps are eliminated," he pointed out.

Those who qualify for the program "no longer have to do medical residency prior to their revalidation," therefore they will be able to practice as doctors in the State of Florida, he explained.

It is estimated that more than30 thousand Cuban doctors could benefit with this measure.

In March, the organizations Solidaridad Sin Fronteras and La Cruz Verde presented in Miami an international medical aid program for doctors, whose objective is to replace the slave labor of Cuban doctors abroad.

Cuban medical professionals who have deserted or not from medical missions will be able to offer their services and their knowledge in Latin American countries, which according to Alfonso, will also help them once they pass the service to apply for the benefits of the new law.

It is estimated that the program could benefit in the long term thousands of Cuban doctors and doctors from other countries who have residence in the United States but who have not been able to revalidate their degrees in that country and want to practice, it was announced last month.

The program will go into practice in the coming months and the first groups of 5 to 12 doctors will offer their services for 21 days in countries such as El Salvador, Haiti, Colombia and Honduras, among others, and will receive the entire agreed salary, not a reduced part. like what Cubans perceive on the island when they leave on medical missions.