200 Cubans back in public health system

THE Government has re-engaged 157 Cuban medical professionals months after the collapse of a long-standing bilateral health-care arrangement with Cuba, bringing the number of health-care workers from the neighbouring Caribbean island now serving here to 200. Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton made the disclosure at Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, saying the latest arrivals had been appropriately deployed across the public health system. “The renegotiated agreement with our Cuban health-care workers has resulted in, to date, an engagement of some 157 Cuban medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, who have returned to Jamaica to support health-care delivery across the island,” Tufton said. The largest complement, 69 professionals, has been assigned to the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA), while 28 have been deployed to the Western Regional Health Authority and 26 to the Southern Regional Health Authority. Another 25 have been assigned to University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), while nine are serving within the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the North East Regional Health Authority. The 157 are in addition to 43 Cuban health-care workers who opted to remain in Jamaica after the Government ended the previous country-to-country arrangement and offered them the option of continuing to work under individual contracts. Tufton said the latest re-engagement brings the number of Cuban medical professionals in Jamaica to 200, compared with 277 before the renegotiated arrangement. “We basically gave them an offer. We said, we can’t do the arrangement as was the case, but if you return and it’s your option, your choice, we would engage you in a direct contract,” he said. “So, we are close to where we were, and they have been appropriately deployed.” The development comes after Jamaica announced that it would discontinue the existing technical cooperation arrangement with Cuba after both governments failed to reach an agreement on the terms of a new framework. The previous agreement had expired in February 2023, but Cuban medical professionals continued working in Jamaica while negotiations for a replacement arrangement continued. In March this year, the Government said it was willing to engage the professionals individually under Jamaican labour laws to ensure continuity of services. At the time, the health system had about 260 Cuban health-care workers, with the largest group consisting of 97 assigned to SERHA. Others were deployed across the western and southern regions, UHWI and specialised services, including the Jamaica-Cuba Eye Care Programme. The end of the bilateral arrangement subsequently exposed staffing gaps at some public facilities. At Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James, for example, 27 Cuban health-care workers, including nurses, doctors and radiotherapists, left with the hospital having to recruit locally and look overseas for specialised personnel to fill some vacancies. The Cuban programme has been a major component of Jamaica’s public health-care system for decades, with the eye-care programme in particular providing specialised services to Jamaicans since 2010. Tufton on Wednesday expressed appreciation to the Cuban professionals who had chosen to return. “I want to thank those who have chosen that option because the system needs them,” he said.