The open letter from a specialist doctor in Santiago de Cuba to the Minister of Public Health has ignited a wave of indignation among health professionals across the island, who strongly identify with his situation and warn that the issue affects thousands of regulated individuals who do not dare to report it publicly.
Doctor Alberto Tejeda Illas has been denied a passport for three years, despite having processed his work leave over a year and a half ago and having no contractual ties with the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP).
The government's online application portal automatically rejected your request with the message: "The application cannot be processed, citizen regulated by Vital Category by MINISTRY OF PUBLIC HEALTH: SPECIALIST DOCTOR. Please report to the agency."
In his letter, Tejeda directly questions the legality of the measure: "I am being subjected to restrictions by an employer—the Cuban Public Health—when I am no longer their employee and there is no employment contract linking me to that institution."
The doctor from Santiago has written to the Ministry twice without receiving a response and has accumulated three rejections through provincial mechanisms, without anyone explaining to him whether the decisions come from the Provincial Health Directorate of Santiago de Cuba, the Ministry itself, or both entities.
Tejeda also references the new Law No. 171/2024 on Migration, published in the Official Gazette on May 5, 2026, but warns that the regulation does not resolve his situation because the authorization remains "at the will and discretion of the relevant officials."
The publication of her case triggered a massive response from colleagues who acknowledge experiencing the same situation.
"We are many doctors who are going through the same thing. It's not an isolated case," wrote one of them in the comments.
Another one stated: "I resigned years ago and I'm still regulated. My life is on hold."
A third party was more emphatic: "We are not the property of the State. We are professionals and citizens with rights."
Several noted that the phenomenon is already deterring young people: "Many young individuals no longer want to pursue certain specialties for fear of getting trapped."
The restrictions are based on the Decree 306 of 2012, which conditions the departure from the country of professionals considered "vital" on the approval of their employers. These restrictions were extended in January 2023 to include medical specialists, dentists, health technicians, and licensed nurses during an internal videoconference in which the Human Capital director of MINSAP explicitly requested "discretion."
The case of Dr. Tejeda is not the first to come to light. In May 2024, the surgeon José Manuel Suárez Villalobos, from Camagüey, with 28 years of service, reported the same situation asking, "How long will they punish me for being a specialist?".
The organization Prisoners Defenders documented more than 1,402 cases of Cuban health professionals affected by restrictions in a report from January 2024, compared to 110 cases recorded in 2019, which highlights a sustained escalation of the phenomenon.
"We are hundreds or thousands in the same situation, but few dare to speak out publicly," summarized one of the doctors commenting on Dr. Tejeda's letter, capturing the true extent of a practice that the Cuban regime keeps silent.
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