Brazilian medical council condemns plan to bring ∈
6,000 Cuban doctors
Published by The Guardian (The text below has been slightly modified to better suit the exam)
1. Brazil plans to hire 6,000 Cuban doctors to serve ∈ remote parts of the country where medical services are deficient or nonexistent, despite controversy over the quality of their training.
2. The Brazilian foreign minister, Antonio Patriota, said negotiations were under way involving the Washington-based Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) to allow the Cuban doctors to practice ∈Brazil.
3. Brazilian medical associations have opposed Cuban-trained doctors practicing ∈ their country, arguing that standards at Cuba's medical schools are lower than ∈Brazil and equivalent ∈ some cases to a nursing education.
4. Over the past decade Cuba's communist government has sent 30,000 doctors to work ∈ poor neighbourhoods of Venezuela, Havana's closest political ally ∈Latin America, under an agreement reached with the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez that involved an exchange of medical services for cheap oil.
5. The Cubans are expected to be sent to poor corners of the northeast of Brazil and the Amazon jungle, where Brazilian doctors are reluctant to serve.
6. "Cuba is very proficient ∈ the areas of medicine, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology and Brazil is considering receiving Cuban doctors ∈ talks that involve PAHO," Patriota said at a news conference with the Cuban foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez.
7. The Federal Council of Medicine, a body that represents doctors ∈Brazil, said the proposal was "irresponsible" as the Cuban doctors' "technical and ethical quality was ∈ doubt". It issued a statement demanding foreign doctors be recertified ∈Brazil before being allowed to practice.
8. Patriota said the plan would strengthen ties between Havana and Brasília that have expanded since the leftist Worker's party came to power a decade ago.
9. He said Brazil would pay for the modernisation of five airports ∈Cuba, where Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht is already building a container terminal at the port of Mariel.
10. On Monday, Brazil's trade minister Fernando Pimentel signed an agreement ∈Havana setting conditions for a $176m (£113m) loan from its giant development bank BNDES to upgrade and expand the airports of Havana, Santa Clara, Holguín, Cayo Coco and Cayo Largo.
What does “late” mean ∈ the way it is used ∈ the fourth paragraph?
