Objective

To analyze the process of recruitment of Cuban doctors by the government of Portugal and to understand the perception of these Cubans about the exercise of their professions abroad.

Methods

A qualitative-descriptive-analytical case study was carried out, with data triangulation, based on the collection of information from multiple sources of evidence. Sixteen key informants were interviewed, documents were analyzed, and direct obser-vation was carried out.

Results

The most evident results demonstrate that the cooperation was established to address the chronic shortage of doctors in primary care; the choice of Cuban doctors had a political dimension. An arrangement was made to enable the registration of Cuban doctors in the Portuguese Medical Association.

Conclusions

There was a positive outcome in the recruitment of Cuban doctors by Portugal since it increased the number of patients with access to services, and allowed a time gap for the government to take some measures in order to mitigate the problem of shortage of doctors.