Cuban foreign ministry: Jamaica’s decision to end medical programme ‘disregarded’ history of fruitful, sustained collaboration

Expressing deep regret over the termination of its near 50-year-old bilateral medical brigade programme with Jamaica, Cuba in a statement yesterday reaffirmed its commitment to the Jamaican people while making it clear that it believed the move by the Dr Andrew Holness administration was a result of pressure from the United States (US).

The statement from Cuba came after claims from Jamaican government officials earlier in the week that the two countries were unable to reach consensus on a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the programme.

Yesterday however, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, Jamaica’s minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, said the country’s decision to end the programme had nothing to do with pressure from the US.

In the meantime, the Cuban foreign ministry, in its statement, said Jamaica unilaterally terminated the medical programme.

“ Cuba regrets the decision of the Government of Jamaica to cease medical cooperation, yielding to pressure from the United States. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba reports that, on March 4, the foreign ministry of Jamaica communicated to our embassy in that country, the unilateral decision of its Government to terminate the health cooperation agreement that has linked both nations for decades,” the statement read.

PRESSURE FROM THE US

The statement from Cuba said Jamaica’s action was as a result of pressure from the US, “which is not concerned about the health needs of the Caribbean brothers”.

“ Cuba deeply regrets that in this way a history of fruitful and sustained collaboration is disregarded, one that has brought countless benefits to the Jamaican people, who are now deprived of receiving the basic and specialised health services that Cuban collaborators provided,” the communist island’s foreign ministry stated.

Cuba, the ministry said, has made the sovereign decision to proceed with the return of the Cuban medical brigade, noting that “ these health professionals leave behind an indelible mark and return to Cuba with the satisfaction of a duty fulfilled and the permanent willingness to assist wherever their spirit of solidarity is required”.

According to the statement, Cuba’s work in Jamaica is “ an eloquent example of genuine cooperation”.

It said that, over the past 49 years, more than 8,176,000 patients have been treated; 74,302 surgical procedures performed; 7,170 births attended to and more than 90,000 lives saved.

The Cuban ministry added that, through the Operation Miracle programme, the highly regarded eye programme that has been present in Jamaica since 2010, the sight of nearly 25,000 Jamaicans has been restored or improved.

Cuba has also been involved in projects for the control and prevention of diseases such as malaria and in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

“ The most recent example of this dedication was seen after the passage of Hurricane Melissa, which severely affected the island. In those difficult circumstances, the Cuban Medical Brigade remained firmly at their posts, many of its members working for more than 72 consecutive hours and actively joining the tasks of recovering hospitals and communities,” the statement said.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com