Cuba reorganizes family doctor program

President Raul Castro's government has begun to reorganize Cuba's family doctor program, a pillar of the communist country's universal free health care system, in response to public complaints.

More than half the offices will be closed and staffing at the remainder increased, medical sources said of the health reform, part of Castro's moves to improve life in Cuba since he succeeded his ailing brother Fidel Castro in February.

Cubans complain that the family doctor program has been short on staff since the government began sending thousands of doctors to Venezuela in 2000.

In the provinces, family doctor offices will now be staffed by a doctor and nurse the entire day, instead of just in the mornings, health care sources said.

"There has been a lot of movement in recent weeks. They are painting the offices, developing a system to insure a proper lunch for staff and more equipment is arriving at the clinics as well," a nurse in central Cuba said.

In Havana, a sprawling city of 2.2 million people, there is a similar plan, but it will take more time due to a lack of doctors and nurses and will include for now traditional offices with a doctor only in the morning.