Cuba Raises Doctors’ Wages to Stem Mass Exodus amid Health and Economic Challenges

Cuban cardiologist Alexey Lopez, 59, is sleeping a bit better since his salary got a bump — part of government efforts to stop its renowned health care system from bleeding doctors amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

But Lopez fears the wage boost will not be enough to lure back his colleagues who are among some 40,000 Cuban medical staff that quit in 2022 and 2023, according to official figures. He told AFP “we were losing sleep” making ends meet before incentive bonuses were introduced last month for night and weekend shifts, seniority, and work in specialized or risky services.

The communist island has been battling sky-high inflation and shortages since the pandemic plus a tightening of US sanctions in 2021, combined with structural weaknesses, sent the economy into a tailspin. The bleak circumstances have pushed some five percent of the population to flee, mostly to the United States, in the biggest wave of emigration since Fidel Castro’s revolution.

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Cuba’s famed medical system has also taken a blow, with some health care workers leaving the country while others have ditched their white coats for better-paid work elsewhere, like the tourism industry. To try to halt the exodus, some 400,000 doctors, nurses and technicians have been given the incentive bonuses.