Cuba to maintain support for Jamaica's healthcare system

Jamaica and Cuba have signed documents aimed at maintaining cooperation on healthcare through the provision of eye care services and health professionals for the local public health system.  

The two governments have signed a letter of intent for a technical cooperation agreement with the Cuban Government for the continued provision of a medical brigade of health professionals. 

A similar letter was signed for the renewal of an agreement for the operation of an Ophthalmology Centre, to continue supporting eye health for Jamaicans. 

The signing was done by Jamaica's Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton and the Minister of Public Health of Cuba, Dr José Angel Portal Miranda on the sidelines of an international heath conference in Cuba this week, a ministry statement said. 

Tufton said the medical brigade from Cuban mainly provides nurses to assist in public hospitals. He noted that the eye care agreement is being renewed after it was suspended primarily because of COVID-19. 

"I am very excited about the second agreement because we intend, hopefully, to expand the services, not just to the curative measures, but also to prevention in our schools,” Tufton said, noting that the Jamaica/Cuba cooperation reflects Cuba's commitment to serving public health as a public good.

“I want to commend you and the people and the government and the leadership of the Republic of Cuba for this tradition, a tradition that we in Jamaica appreciate and have benefited from and which I believe the world has benefited from,” he said.

In response, the Cuban health minister noted that Jamaica would continue to enjoy his country's support. “These two letters of intent will help us to deepen even more the relationship of our two countries. You can always count on the solidarity of the Cuban people."

The letters of intent lay the foundation for the negotiation and implementation of the full terms of the technical cooperation agreements.

The first cooperation agreement for the establishment of a Centre of Excellence was signed between the two states in July 2009 and the following year, Jamaica welcomed the first of four medical brigades from Cuba. 

The Jamaica-Cuba Eye Care Programme was launched in January 2010. 

Between 2010 and 2019, more than 35,000 Jamaican patients were examined.

At least 17,000 persons have had avoidable blindness averted through the programme, the ministry statement said. 

Over time, the cooperation agreements also allowed for the interweaving of Cuban medical professionals into all levels of Jamaica's health system. 

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