RIO BRANCO, Brazil Dr. Alberto Asael Reyes speaks Portuguese carefully when talking to his patients. He arrived in the Amazon region only recently from Cuba, and his accent remains strong. But in an area where there has long been no available physician, he often needs to introduce residents to new words and concepts.

"Rheu-ma-to-lo-gist," Vinicius, a thin, shy 11-year-old, utters slowly after meeting with Reyes. Though Vinicius has had severe fevers and heart problems since birth, no one had told him he needed to see one.

"No one would come here," says Maria Elena Brito da Silva, a teacher at the school down the road here in the outskirts of the city. "All the doctors stayed in their private practices in the city [center] making money."

These days, patients receive free consultations with Reyes, 41, at this outlying government-run health center, among the first of a group of about 11,000 Cuban physicians headed to Brazil.

Faced with a severe shortage, the government of left-of-center President Dilma Rousseff is importing 13,000 foreign doctors by May to serve the poor and those in inadequately served rural areas.

Proponents say Brazil's Mais Medicos (More Doctors) program, which has faced opposition from the country's Medical Assn., is already providing relief.

"They're being received very, very well by patients," says Marcia Corsini, who is coordinating the new arrivals at the City Hall in Rio Branco, capital of the state of Acre. "In truth, we could use more of them soon."

Brazil has seen a rapid increase in wealth during the last decade, and more than 40 million people have risen from poverty into the middle class. But as the country prepares to take the global stage as host of the 2014 World Cup, much of the population has not seen commensurate improvements in public services.

Brazil's Constitution calls for free care for all citizens who have no private plan, but in reality that remains little more than a promise. Neglected communities, long lines and bloody tragedies are often easier to stumble upon than an available doctor.

The government says Brazil has 360,000 active doctors and can use 160,000 more. Most doctors are concentrated in the richest areas: The state of Rio de Janeiro has more than three doctors per 1,000 residents, compared with less than one per 1,000 people in Acre, far away on the Bolivian and Peruvian borders.

Original post:
Brazil's president imports Cuban doctors to ease shortage