Mexico will hire 500 Cuban doctors to assist fill a medical shortage, according to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who spoke at a regular news conference on Monday.

As part of a regional tour of Central America and the Caribbean, Lopez Obrador paid a visit to Cuba over the weekend.

Cuban doctors were also hired to work in Mexico earlier in the coronavirus pandemic, which sparked criticism from members of Mexico’s opposition.

“We are also going to hire doctors from Cuba who are going to come to work in our country; we made this decision because we do not have the doctors we need in the country,” Lopez Obrador said.