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A Cuban doctor was shot dead in a hospital in one of the dangerous neighborhoods on the outskirts of the Mexican capital, the Mexican state prosecutor's office said.

The doctor, whose name has not been released, was killed Friday along with a nurse and another woman at the hospital in the capital's suburb of Ecatepec, the Associated Press reported.

Recently, there has been criticism in Mexico of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's plan to hire hundreds of doctors from Cuba to work where there are no Mexican doctors, or in areas where they do not want to work because they are too dangerous or remote.

The Cuban doctor killed in Ecatepec appears to have arrived in Mexico some time ago and was not part of the presidential recruitment program.

His death, however, raised the question of whether some areas of Mexico are too dangerous for Cuban doctors, the AP noted.

According to the prosecutor's office in the state of Mexico, which borders the capital Mexico, two armed men entered the hospital early Friday morning and were seeking information about a woman admitted to the facility.

After failing to find her, the gunmen forced the receptionist to open the door to the second floor of the hospital, where they started shooting.

They killed a nurse and another woman, wounded the doctor, who later died of his wounds. 

Mexican gangs are known for such acts, where they enter hospitals to kill a wounded rival.

Mexico has also seen a wave of violence against medical personnel.

In July, medical students and citizens protested across the country following the killing of Eric Andrade, 24, in the northern state of Durango, who was shot while treating a patient.

On July 11, a doctor was murdered in her home in the state of Chihuahua.

A woman was shot dead in a psychiatric clinic in the US

In July last year, another female doctor was killed on a highway in the state of Zacatecas.

In the same month and in the same state, two paramedics were killed while transporting a patient.

Critics have filed complaints against the plan to hire about 500 doctors from Cuba, dozens of whom have already arrived in Mexico and started working in the western state of Nayarit.

The complaints allege that the government has not proven that the doctors have the necessary qualifications or training to practice in Mexico, and that most of their remuneration may go to the Cuban government rather than to themselves.

Mexico

killing a doctor