15 doctors from Cuba left for Martinique on Friday 26 June 2020 to reinforce the medical teams on the spot. This departure follows the adoption, last March, of a decree authorizing the intervention of Cuban doctors in certain overseas territories.
A delegation of 15 Cuban doctors left for Martinique on Friday 26 June, the Cuban authorities have been informed. That’s the first mission of this kind on French territory, with the objective of helping to fill the medical desert.
This departure follows the adoption, in March, of a decree authorizing the intervention of Cuban doctors in certain overseas territories (Guyana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon) in order to reinforce the local teams.
A two-month mission
The mission to Martinique, which will last two months, will serve to cover certain specialties including pneumology, infectiology, radiology, and emergency medicine, according to the Martinican authorities. These doctors will also be able to help combat the coronavirus epidemic.
Last year, French Guiana, which has already been allowed to recruit medical staff from outside the European Union since a 2005 order, began discussions with the Cuban government to bring in doctors from that country, but these have not yet been concluded.
A program launched by Fidel Castro
In total, nearly 30,000 Cuban doctors are deployed year-round in some 60 countries, where they help to complete the health network.
This program, launched in the 1960s by Fidel Castro, was also given a real boost during the coronavirus pandemic: Cuba sent nearly 2,000 health professionals on temporary missions to 27 countries, including Mexico, Andorra, South Africa and Qatar.
However, it is harshly criticised by the United States and Brazil, which denounce in particular the working conditions of these professionals, a large part of whose salary goes to the State.
On Thursday, the Andorran authorities thus announced that two health workers from the Cuban mission refused to return to their country to seek political asylum in Europe.
Cuba, which began charging the richest countries for this service in the 2000s, earned $6.3 billion in 2018, making it one of its main sources of income. But last year the island suffered from the political reconfiguration of Latin America, which has largely tipped to the right.
As a result, it had to give up contracts to send doctors to Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, and El Salvador, a political and financial blow.
Source: franceinfo
