José Ramón Balaguer Cabrera, 78, who had been health minister for six years, was relieved of duties by the Council of State and replaced by his deputy, Roberto Morales.

The Council of State is headed by Raúl Castro.

Roberto Morales, 43, is a physician who rose through the ranks of the Communist Party. Balaguer, a veteran of the revolution, will rejoin the Central Committee of the party.

Morales

 

Balaguer’s appointment in 2004 coincided with healthcare services surpassing tourism as Cuba’s main hard-currency generator. More than 11,000 Cuban doctors and other healthcare providers currently work in Venezuela, under a Venezuelan-funded program. Thousands more provide healthcare services in ALBA member countries and other countries in Latin America and Africa. Some of these programs — the most ambitious being a $690 million program to rebuild Haiti’s healthcare system — are funded by third countries such as South Africa, Brazil and Norway, but the by far largest source of income continues to be Venezuela.

Cuba’s current budget crunch shifted the attention back to domestic healthcare services. After a decade of mushrooming healthcare spending — annual expenses grew from 121 million pesos (MN) in 2000 to 2.47 billion pesos in 2009, according to the National Office of Statistics (ONE) — the government is seeking ways to cut back expenses while maintaining service levels. After years of constant rises, the number of medical personnel on the island shrank by about 6,000 to 329,000 in 2009, from 335,000 the year before, according to ONE.

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