Almost 500 Cuban health workers deployed across Calabria amid severe shortage of doctors

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The coronavirus pandemic was the catalyst for many to leave; more than 11,000 health workers have left the public system since 2021. Italian medics were frontline heroes when the country became the first in Europe to be engulfed by Covid-19. However, the fines issued to some for flouting overtime rules during the pandemic were a reflection of how quickly their efforts were forgotten.

Stressed medical professionals are now either retiring early, switching to the private sector, or seeking better opportunities abroad.

In Italy’s poorer south, the public health system had endured neglect for years before the pandemic, with severe cost-cutting leading to the closure of dozens of hospitals. The mafia and political corruption have also taken their toll on services.

Polistena has a population of almost 10,000, but its hospital, one of the last surviving in the area, serves 200,000 people in towns across neighbouring provinces.

To remedy the problem, Calabria’s regional government called on Cuba, famous worldwide for dispatching medical brigades to assist with saving lives, most often during times of humanitarian calamity.