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Cuban doctor tells of struggle
to register
Ingrid Oellermann. The
Mercury, South Africa, June 28 2005.
An orthopaedic surgeon from Cuba has claimed
that the Health Professions Council of South
Africa had refused to renew his yearly registration
certificate because of pressure by Cuban
authorities who hope to make an example
of him so that other Cuban doctors would
"toe the line".
Pietermaritzburg-based Mario Menchero -
who is married to an attorney who has represented
numerous Cuban doctors in legal battles
with the South African health authorities
- has said in the Pietermaritzburg High
Court that he has been labelled a "traitor"
and was being victimised as a result of
his marriage.
Menchero alleges in court papers that the
fact that he was not registered led to him
being placed on leave without pay. He was
based at Grey's Hospital in Pietermaritzburg.
He said Cuban authorities viewed his marrying
a South African and taking up permanent
residence in South Africa, as "almost
an act of treachery", something he
could not understand.
Menchero obtained an interim court order
by consent yesterday, in terms of which
the Health Professions Council is to accept
payment of his yearly registration fee and
extend his registration with effect from
May 22, pending the finalisation of the
dispute. The return date for the application
is July 11.
Respondents in the case include the KwaZulu-Natal
Health Minister, the Health Professions
Council, and D J Kotze, the Board Manager
of the Medical and Dental Professions Board,
who is cited in his personal capacity as
the person who allegedly refused to process
Menchero's application.
In his affidavit, Menchero said when he
came to South Africa in 1998 as part of
the treaty between SA and Cuba, which allowed
Cuban doctors to work in the public service
in this country, authorities had already
removed a restriction stipulating that the
doctors could not work in South Africa for
more than three years.
From then on, doctors could stay indefinitely
provided that there was a need for their
services.
Menchero said his competence was recognised
by his peers and he was responsible for
most orthopaedic surgery on children at
Grey's Hospital. The acting head of the
department had described his services as
"crucial" to the department.
Menchero said he had been a member of the
"local" Communist Party which
met monthly at the hospital. The party aimed
to support Cubans in Pietermaritzburg and
keep alive the ideals that had formed the
basis of their education.
In 2002 the Sunday Tribune published an
article about a case dealing with the legal
difficulties of a Cuban doctor. Menchero
said the doctor concerned was a friend of
his and was also his wife's client.
When he and other members of the Communist
Party were ordered to write a letter to
the newspaper in response to the story "extolling
the virtues of Cuba and its system",
he had been reluctant. The secretary-general
of the party had "instructed"
him to write the letter. Menchero said he
had indicated he would resign from the party.
At subsequent meetings he had been "vilified"
and told if he kept "his attitude",
he would be expelled from the party, lose
his job and be deported.
Menchero said he had been described as
"a traitor and a revolutionary"
at a meeting in February 2003.
"I was compared to Gen Arnaldo Ochoa
who had been one of the heroes of the Cuban
revolution, but who, in 1989, was accused
of treachery and drug dealing and was executed
by firing squad."
Menchero said several of the speakers who
had publicly vilified him, had shaken his
hand in private and apologised, saying it
was "not personal" and they were
forced to publicly criticise and attack
him.
Since those incidents, there had been other
attempts to victimise and harass him, he
alleged.
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