Hospitals hire doctors from Cuba to undo Mafia’s grip

A southern Italian region is to fly in nearly 500 Cuban doctors to make up a staff shortage at its badly managed and mafia-infiltrated hospitals.

Calabria, which occupies the toe of Italy’s boot-shaped peninsula, has struck a deal with the Cuban government to hire up to 497 doctors to avoid hospital closures.

Governor Roberto Occhiuto said Cuban doctors had successfully helped out when a group came to Italy at the height of the Covid-19 crisis.

Mafia involvement in Calabria’s £2.97 billion health budget, from which it siphons off cash, has meant patients are left on stretchers in A&E for days, while organised crime members are given priority treatment.

The Cubans will replace Italian doctors put off by red tape and incompetent, politically appointed local managers.

Massimo Scura, who managed the region’s health care from 2015 to 2018, claimed he hired doctors in Calabria but said none would agree to go to one town, Locri, where the hospital was controlled by the mafia.

He said: “One doctor was killed by the mafia for simply trying to change things.”