Cuba's Global Medical Outreach – a news chronology

(From stories compiled by FOCAL, the Canadian Foundation for the Americas)

2007

January 13: Cuban ambassador to Bolivia, Rafael Dausá, said that this year his country will donate 23 second-level hospitals to Bolivia to provide medical attention to four million people, and it is expected that half a million will be taught to read and write. Dausá emphasized that medical attention and education will continue to be the priorities, as in 2006. (ABI, 13/1/07)

January 23: The Governments of Belize and Cuba renewed their medical agreement for the next three years. Belize's Minister of Health Jose Coye said they were renewing the agreement in terms of human resources. "Is that in the area of the health care providers we were very short in the rural areas and what the agreement is doing is indeed to renew the contribution of human resources", Coye said. "Today we enjoy a number of sixty three physicians from Cuba, which is made up of forty five general practitioners, eighteen specialists that work in the secondary and tertiary care of our country and it also provides nurses and in addition to that we also have engineers, x-ray technician, occupational therapists", he added. Cuban First Deputy Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said the signing will improve the level of cooperation between Belize and Cuba. (LoveFM, 24/1/07)

January 30: Canadians fed up with long health care waiting lists at home have begun seeking out orthopedic surgery and other services in Cuba, as the communist country markets its well-regarded health-care system on the international free market. A new medical broker in Quebec has just started arranging for patients here to receive care in the Caribbean nation, but Health Services International says its clients will not be the first Canadians to try the new brand of Cuban tourism. More than 30 underwent hip replacements, cosmetic operations and other procedures in Cuba last year alone, according to Lucie Vermette, a partner in the newly formed company. She said her firm has contracts with five patients, including a young mother blinded by a rare eye disease, and strong interest from another 20, just days after Health Services opened for business. "Cuba, it's true, is a socialist, communist government," said Ms. Vermette. "But this government gives priority to medicine and education and offers all the people very good treatment." Despite its generally moribund economy, Cuba has developed a reputation for a relatively high-quality health care system and for a number of years has provided medical services for a fee to patients from elsewhere in Latin America. (National Post, 30/1/07) 

January 31: Cuba plans to send doctors and medicine to Nicaragua, extending its so-called medical diplomacy to the new government of leftist President Daniel Ortega, a longtime ally of Fidel Castro. Cuba's top diplomat in Nicaragua, Manuel Guillot, said the doctors would work along the Caribbean coast, the most impoverished part of a country second only to Haiti as the poorest in the Americas. He gave no more details but said the region had been "effectively abandoned in terms of sanitation." (Reuters, 31/1/07)

January 31: A total of 41 Nicaraguans travelled to Havana to undergo cataract surgery, as part of "Operation Miracle" promoted by Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro, according to official sources. (EFE, 31/1/07)

February 3: One year after their arrival in Bolivia, Cuban doctors have made 3,370,000 consultations, and saved the lives of 4,300 people, a Cuban diplomat revealed in La Paz during a meeting of solidarity with the island. During his address to the Congress of the Bolivian Movement of Solidarity with Cuba, the counselor minister of the Cuban embassy, Danilo Sanchez, said that, at present, there are 1,721 Cuban health workers throughout Bolivia. He also said these experts have assisted 3,730 births, noting a decrease in infant mortality rate. Over 4,600 surgeries have been performed and 197,000 medical examinations have been done in the 20 integral hospitals donated by Cuba, Sanchez added. Operation Miracle, a Cuban-Venezuelan Project providing free eye operations, has also contributed to important results, with 61,146 people having benefited so far. (Prensa Latina, 3/2/07)

February 12: Thousands of Cuban doctors and other medical personnel working in President Hugo Chávez's popular health clinics in poor neighbourhoods have left Venezuela, according to Cuban doctors and Venezuelan health volunteers. Though some 15,000 remain, the departures have forced the government to close many of the clinics, severely disrupting the "Barrio Adentro" program -- Inside the Barrio -- that many say helped Chávez win a recall referendum in 2004 and a resounding reelection December 3. ''They began to remove them eight or 10 months ago,'' said Judith Aponte, coordinator of the volunteer neighborhood health committee in the Caracas barrio of Santa Eduwigis. "It's not clear why the Cubans left, though some Cuban doctors still here say those who left had fulfilled their three-year assignments. Hard facts about the program are often elusive. Even the pro-Chávez government ombudsman, Germán Mundaraín, complained in a December report that it was ''very difficult to obtain up-to-date information on spending figures and health indicators'' related to the program. ''The information is managed by Cuba, not by Venezuela,'' says María Elena Rodríguez, who coordinates health research for the independent human rights group Provea, ``When we asked for cost figures last year, [the Venezuelan health ministry] said, `If you get that information, please send it to us!''' The doctors' departure is not believed to be connected to the defections of several of the Cuban medical personnel. Nearly 50 such defectors are reported to be living in Colombia while awaiting US visas. (The Miami Herald, 12/2/07)

February 19: The first group of 27 Pakistani students arrived in Cuba and 368 more will also follow them, education official Dr S Mehmood Raza said. The statements were made during an orientation session for students who want to study in Cuba, organised by the Pakistani Higher Education Commission (HEC). Gustavo Machín Gomez, ambassador of the Republic of Cuba, was the chief guest on the occasion. Addressing the students, the Cuban ambassador said that Cuba had offered 1,000 medical scholarships to Pakistani students, adding that the students would receive education from medical institutes recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and related international organisations. "Pakistani students will receive the best medical education and will be among the 27,000 other international students belonging to around 120 countries studying in Cuba," he said, adding, "it is the first time Cuba is going to receive Muslim students and the people and government of Cuba are excited about this." (Daily Times, 19/2/07)

February 19: Cuba, whose doctors have experimented with dozens of alternative treatments, is training Panamanian therapists in the medical use of hypnosis, the government news agency AIN reported. The agency said that 80 Panamanians graduated from courses held in the Central American country under a program with Cuba's Higher Institute of Medical Sciences, based in the eastern city of Santiago. Cuba's best-known researcher in the field, Alberto Cobian, has said that hypnosis can be useful in treating stress, bronchial asthma, sexual dysfunction and some types of skin diseases, as well as offering some anesthetic effects, the agency reported. (AP, 19/2/07)

February 21: More than a hundred Cuban doctors are in Bolivia assisting the victims of heavy rains and floods caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon that have been lashing the country over the last days. Cuban ambassador to Bolivia Rafael Dausa said the Cuban doctors are assisting the evacuated people and victims of the natural disaster. He said the doctors will stay in Bolivia as long as needed. The Cuban health experts were located in rural and indigenous communities, in the eastern departments of Santa Cruz and Beni, and El Chaco in Cochabamba. (CAN, 22/2/07)

March 2: The Comisión Médica Negociadora Nacional (National Medical Negotiating Commission), COMENENAL, Panama's foremost doctors' organization, took advantage of the visit of Cuba's foreign minister to express their opposition to the hiring of 20 Cuban ophthalmologists who would work in poor communities. The COMENENAL, which maintains not to oppose Cuba's "humanitarian assistance," declared that Cuban doctors' practice in Panama constitutes "an illegal exercise of the profession." (AFP, 2/3/07)

March 5: Solomon's foreign minister is in Cuba to finalise hiring of Cuban doctors. The Sogavare-led government will sign a deal with Cuba to recruit Cuban doctors into the Solomon Islands. Solomon Islands is currently facing an acute doctor shortage. Foreign Affairs Minister Patterson Oti will meet his counterpart in Havana to sign a technical cooperation framework, which will form part of the doctor recruitment exercise. Under the deal, 40 Cuban doctors will be recruited to serve at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara and also in provincial hospitals. (The Voice of New Zealand, 6/3/07)

March 7: In 2006, 30 Cuban doctors deserted a cooperation program in Bolivia, before the US administration announced that any Cuban medical professional sent abroad was eligible for political asylum, probably to pursue private practice in the region. Their departure from the mission after less than six months was an embarrassment for Havana and the allied government of leftist President Evo Morales. In 2004, 10 physicians working in South Africa refused to go back home. But the desertion rate among the estimated 26,000 Cubans in Venezuela may be the highest of any mission. In the Maracaibo area alone, at least 100 of the 500 doctors sent since the mission began in 2003 have fled, a Cuban doctor who crossed the Colombian border said. Now they're holed up in Colombia, unable to work, while US authorities mull whether to accept them as political refugees. (The New York Times, 8/3/07)

March 12: Ambassador of Cuba to Pakistan, Gustavo Machin Gomez said the  contributions made  by Cuba in terms of medical aid to the victims of the earthquake of 2005, in Pakistan's northern areas has made the bonds between the two countries stronger. He was speaking at an Interactive Session with him on the "Pakistan - Cuba relationship in the New Millennium" hosted by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations, Economics Affairs and Law. Responding to a call by Pakistan for relief operations in quake-hit areas, Cuba had sent medical teams immediately, comprising some 2500 doctors and relief workers, who remained active in relief activities in the quake-hit areas for seven months. Cuban Ambassador said last year his country  also offered a total 1000 free medical education scholarships to Pakistani students. (APP, 12/3/07)

March 15: Nearly 56 low-income Nicaraguans with eye afflictions traveled to Havana to receive ophthalmologic surgery, as part of the Operation Miracle solidarity program boosted by Cuba and Venezuela. Reverend Sixto Ulloa, coordinator of the project the Democratic Mayors Association sponsors in Nicaragua, said that since the Central American nation started to receive the benefits of the program in June, about 1,665 Nicaraguans have received free eye surgery in the Caribbean island and 635 have been operated in Venezuela. (Prensa Latina, 15/3/07)

March 22: Cuba will set up three eye clinics in Nicaragua to operate free-of-charge on cataract patients, announced Luis Hernandez, the new Cuban ambassador. The diplomat, who presented President Daniel Ortega his credentials, said that in the coming days the first four Cuban doctors would install the first clinic on the outskirts of Managua, the capital. Hernandez said the other two clinics —each with the capacity to operate on 80 patients a day— are slated for Puerto Cabezas and Bluefields, capitals of the North and South Atlantic Autonomous Regions. A strengthened relation between Cuba and Nicaragua also includes Cuban collaboration on eradicating illiteracy with the Yo Si Puedo (Yes I Can) method, added Hernandez. Cuba is also providing technical assistance to the Central American nation to install electric generating plants supplied by Venezuela under the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), which promotes solidarity, social development and mutually beneficial trade. (Granma, 22/3/07)

March 26: The Government of Cuba will donate 23 hospitals to Bolivia. The hospitals will be set up in the departments of Santa Cruz, Oruro, La Paz, Cochabamba, Potosí and Benin. Cuban ambassador to Bolivia, Rafael Daussá, indicated that 10 of the hospitals will be furnished with Cuban equipment and run by Cuban personnel. (EuropaPress, 26/3/07)

April 7: "Investing in health to forge a safer future" is the main theme to mark the World Health Day this year, devoted to international sanitary security. During a press conference, the Pan American Health Organization representative in Cuba, Dr. Lea Guido, explained the difficulties of living safely in a globalized world, where diseases spread from one continent to another in a very short time. Cuba's Health Deputy Minister Gonzalo Estevez explained that the island devotes 18 percent of its Gross Domestic Product to public health, besides investments in new equipment and ongoing remodeling of health facilities. (Prensa Latina, 7/4/07)

April 7: With the last group of 238 patients being sent out to Cuba and Venezuela to undergo corrective surgery for different eye diseases, Nicaragua will bring to a close operation "Miracle," launched in March, 2006. An ophthalmology center in Nicaragua staffed by a Cuban medical brigade will take over the surgical interventions, using 600,000 USD worth of surgical equipment donated by Cuba. (AP, 7/4/07)

April 10: Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez presented degree certificates to 1,013 integral general doctors, the first group of its kind, during the graduation ceremony at the Teresa Carreño theater. Also present was Carlos Lage, vice president of the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba. The Venezuelan president specifically acknowledged Cuban President Fidel Castro whom he called "the doctor, friend, brother, comrade" who has most encouraged this initiative to create this immense battalion of Bolivarian doctors. For his part, Lage specified that the graduates had undergone an intensive training program with the help of 1,420 highly qualified Cuban specialists. During the event, Chávez affirmed that Venezuela and Cuba had ratified the project to graduate 200,000 Latin American doctors in the current decade, as part of a bilateral agreement entitled the Sandino Commitment. (Granma International, 11/4/07)

April 26: A new group of Cuban doctors under the Zimbabwe-Cuba health program has arrived in Zimbabwe to help boost the health sector in this southern African country, ZBC News reported. The program was launched in 2000 to supplement the number of doctors in Zimbabwe 's hospitals. The latest group of Cuban doctors comprises 64 young men and women trained in the areas of pediatrics, gynecology, neurology, radiography, forensics, dentistry and general medicine. The head of the Cuban medical brigade in Zimbabwe Elision Fernandes said the 64 new doctors bring to 136 the total number of Cuban doctors currently deployed in Zimbabwe. (Xinhua, 26/4/07)  

May 11: Bolivian President Evo Morales expressed his respect and admiration for the Cuban doctors working at a new hospital officially inaugurated in the Patankamaya municipality of La Paz. "I admire you, because our people were never properly attended to," said Morales in his speech that opened the ceremony. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque was also present. The health center is the 22nd facility built in Bolivia with equipment and medical personnel from Cuba. (Granma, 12/5/07)

May 15: Cuba has offered to assist Fiji in the fields of medicine and sport. The offer was made by Cuba's ambassador to the United Nations to Fiji's minister for public enterprise, Poseci Bune, during a meeting in New York. Mr Bune said Cuba has also offered assistance and partnerships to Fiji in the areas of agriculture and sugar. Mr Bune said he will put Cuba's offer to assist before the interim cabinet and hopefully there will be a follow-up mission to discuss these issues with Cuba before the end of the year. He says this could coincide with a special trade and development mission to Venezuela which has offered to do a feasibility study to build an oil refinery in Fiji. Currently Cuba provides doctors and other professionals to countries in Africa and the Caribbean, as well as to the  Solomon Islands and Nauru in the Pacific. (The Voice of New Zealand, 15/5/07)

May 30: Cuba and China have signed a sweeping new cooperation agreement in the areas of medicine and biotechnology, government-run media reported. The daily Granma newspaper reported that the president of China's Academy of Sciences, Lu Yong Xiangl signed the deal after meeting with Cuba's Secretary of the Council of State, Jose Miyar Barrueco. Granma reported that the deal would enhance mutual cooperation in the areas of vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, medical and agricultural biotechnology, renewable energy and nanotechnology among other areas. China is Havana's second-largest trading partner after Venezuela, with bilateral trade of some two billion dollars in 2006. (AFP, 30/5/07)

June 12: One hundred and twenty Jamaicans left the Sangster International airport in Montego Bay, for eye care treatment and surgery in Cuba. The participants will receive treatment as part of the Jamaica-Cuba Eye care programme. (Radio Jamaica, 12/6/07)

June 15: The inauguration of a new Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) in Cuba favors about five hundred Bolivian students from the regions of Santa Cruz and Potosi. The students will soon begin classes for their formation as doctors, and will be a great support to their country since the department of Santa Cruz is the largest in the country. This is the third school of its kind in Cuba, for a total enrollment of 364 students from seven countries that include Venezuela, Ecuador, Honduras, Saint Lucia and Bolivia. (Prensa Latina, 15/6/07)

July 4: Cuba and Iran are considering sending doctors to South Africa. South Africa is recruiting some 1,000 doctors from Tunisia and luring back medical professionals from Britain and elsewhere to reverse a brain drain that has hit its public health system, its health minister said. (Reuters, 4/7/07)

July 9: Bolivian President Evo Morales praised the unconditional solidarity of the Cuban people and Fidel Castro thanks to which nearly 100,000 Bolivians have recovered their sight through the Operation Miracle free-eye surgery program. During the inauguration of the fifth of 20 hospitals that Cuba will donate to the Andean nation this year, in the locality of Aiquile, in the central department of Cochabamba, the Bolivian leader said that Cuba and Fidel Castro have allowed the Bolivian people to have high-quality health professionals at their service and also state-of-the art technology in 25 hospitals. For his part, Cuba's ambassador to La Paz, Rafael Dausá, ratified the commitment of the Cuban health personnel to continue giving a high-quality solidarity service to the Bolivian people. (ACN, 10/7/07)

August 3: The Jamaica/Cuba Eyecare Programme is to specially target children who are affected with Strabismus or what is commonly referred to as 'cast eye', through an extensive outreach exercise. This is according to Claudetta Williams-Yearde, Co-ordinator of the Jamaica/Cuba Eyecare Project, who told the press that although the condition was among the four that were currently being treated under the programme, there were still many children across the island with the problem who could be assisted.  Both Jamaican and Cuban medical personnel have been very instrumental. They work together as well as in the post operative evaluations and screening of patients. We are very satisfied about the partnership and for the assistance from both sides," she said. In August 2005, the Governments of the Republic of Cuba, Venezuela and Jamaica together with Caribbean partners, Dominica, Guyana, St. Lucia and Suriname, signed the historic Bilateral Agreement, 'Mission Operation', for their nationals to receive medical attention in the field of ophthalmology in Cuba. (JIS News, 3/8/07)

August 5: Nicaraguan Ambassador to Havana, Luis Cabrera, highlighted the determination of Nicaraguan youngsters, on their 6th year of medical studies at the Latin American School of Medicine, to treat their humble country fellows. You are the new men and women Nicaragua needs, said the diplomat on Saturday during a flag hand-over ceremony of the 1st "Vilma Espin" Nicaraguan Medical Brigade. He noted that these young medical students, a fruit of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), will serve in the Nicaraguan Atlantic coast, the country's most neglected and humble area, home to several indigenous communities. You are the children of our people and are returning to them, said Cabrera, who urged them to honor with their work the figure of late revolutionary Vilma Espin, after whom the health brigade was named. (Prensa Latina, 5/8/07)

August 6: Two events on dengue fever that started in Havana have attracted world experts to discuss the control and prevention of the disease. The two week-long events, the 10th International Forum on Dengue and the Seminar on Twenty Years of Fighting Dengue, have attracted doctors, virologists, sociologists and epidemiologists from several nations, sharing their experiences on dengue control and prevention. Cuba plans to present its results on the control of dengue and the people's role in the campaign against dengue. The two events are sponsored by the World Health Organization, the Pan-American Health Organization, and the Italy-based International Genetics and Biotechnology Engineering Center. (Xinhua, 6/8/07)

August 11: Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Belaunde thanked Cuba for the donation of five tons of medicine for victims of a cold spell that recently hit the Andean region of that nation. He spoke at a ceremony held at the national stadium in Lima. The Cuban ambassador to Peru, Luis Delfin Perez, explained that these newly made, high quality Cuban-made medicines are useful for treating respiratory problems and have a long working life. Delfin Perez also referred to Cuba's solidarity with the rest of the world, specifically with Peru, and recalled the assistance provided after the devastating earthquake that shook the Andean nation in 1970. (Radio Cadena Agramonte, 11/8/07)

August 19: Cuba sent to Peru two planes with two campaign hospitals and medical staff to aid the victims of the earthquake. Cuban Ambassador to Peru Luis Delfin Perez said in Pisco that both hospitals will run on autonomous energy due to the power cut affecting the area. The 42-member team includes specialists in general medicine, in orthopedics and traumatology, surgeons, intensive care, anesthesiologists, gynecologists, radiologists and epidemiologists, plus nurses and technicians. (Prensa Latina, 19/8/07)

August 20: Canadian Choice Medical Services, which refers to itself as a "medical tourism company," has signed agreements with Cuba's ministries of tourism and health, said company founder Daren Jorgenson. Patients pay a fee to Choice Medical based on the treatment and the company arranges hospital stays in Cuba. Officially starting up at the beginning of August, Choice Medical Services has worked with about 200 test patients on a trial basis during the past year. Patients have made use of the service for eye, knee and shoulder surgeries as well as drug rehabilitation and the goal of the company is to provide an "effective and affordable service," said Jorgenson. (The Winnipeg Sun, 20/8/07)

August 24: The Cuban medical staff, which will be in charge of providing services at two field hospitals donated by Cuba to Nicaragua, arrived in Managua. They were received by Maritza Cuan, the Nicaraguan Health Minister. The Augusto Cesar Sandino brigade, made up by 85 medical doctors and nurses of different areas of medicine, will be working in the Muelle de los Bueyes and Waspam municipalities located in the Autonomous Regions of the North and South Atlantic respectively. The coordinator of the Cuban medical brigades in Nicaragua, Luis Carlos Avila explained that both centers will be providing services in the areas of orthopedics, integrated general practitioners medicine, gynecology-obstetrics, pediatrics, general surgery, radiology and ophthalmology. (Prensa Latina, 25/8/07)

August 26: As Detroit Public School students affected by school closings try and figure out the best routes to new destinations, two former DPS attendees are getting ready for a much longer trip on their first day of class. Chinere Knight and Ese Agari, both Cass Technical High School graduates, were recently accepted to the free scholarship program at the world renowned Latin American School of Medicine (LASM) in Havana, Cuba.  Knight and Agari will join about 16 other students from around the country who will receive a medical degree without submitting to the enormous debt most med school graduates incur in the United States. (The Michihan Citizen, 26/8/07)

September 7: A Cuban medical brigade is assisting victims of Hurricane Felix in the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. The island's medical brigade, made up of 57 doctors, arrived in the Autonomous Region of the North Atlantic of Nicaragua in August to attend residents of that remote area. (ACN, 7/9/07)

September 14: Singapore and Cuba signed an agreement to collaborate on the control and prevention of dengue, local media reported. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by the CEO of Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) Lee Yuen Hee, and Director-General of Cuba's Institute "Pedro Kouri", Gustavo Kouri. The agreement will allow both countries to leverage on each other's expertise and experience in dengue control. (Xinhua, 14/9/07)

September 20: The 10th Cuba-Zimbabwe Intergovernmental Commission closed sessions with the key decision to keep a 134-strong medical brigade in the African country. The sessions were led by Marta Lomas, Cuban minister for Foreign Investments and Economic Cooperation, and Simbarashe S. Mumbengegwi, Zimbabwe minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The accords will cover staff training, identify new areas of cooperation, exchange information on the literacy program "Yes I Can (Yo Si puedo), " and send experts to Bindura University and Harare Technology Institute. Zimbabwe asked for an increase in scholarships and signed a draft memorandum of understanding on tourism, while Cuba offered biotechnology and veterinarian and biotechnical products to fight malaria. Cuba also proposed a new project for technical aid as part of future cooperation in science and technology, labor, social security, agriculture and renewable energy. (Prensa Latina, 20/9/07)

September 30: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said that his country owes a lot more to Cuba "for its medical assistance than what Cuba could owe Venezuela for its oil supply to the island." During his radio and television program 'Alo Presidente', Chavez noted that the 30,000 Cuban doctors and nurses that have been working in the South American country for more than five years have saved more lives than in the history of public health in Venezuela. "That is invaluable. It is a lot more than what we contribute with our modest oil supplies," he stressed. "Those foolish people who are accusing us of selling petroleum at bargain prices to Cuba should ask themselves: in objective prices, what is worth more? The oil barrels we sell to Cuba or this?", Chavez said. (ACN, 1/10/07) 

October 1: A Manitoba company offering "foreign surgery for the middle classes" is finding most of its patients come from the Maritimes and the United States, not its home province. Choices Self Directed Healthcare will arrange for Cuban medical facilities to carry out a variety of surgical procedures -- from cosmetic to neurosurgery -- for patients from Canada and the US. The "medical tourism" service can help Canadian patients avoid long waits for surgery, while for U.S. patients, the main attraction is reduced cost. Company founder Daren Jorgenson says most of the company's clients have come from the United States and the Maritime region in Canada, not Manitoba. Choices Self Directed Healthcare will arrange for Cuban medical facilities to carry out a variety of surgical procedures -- from cosmetic to neurosurgery -- for patients from Canada and the US. (CBC News, 1/10/07)

October 1: A new batch of would-be doctors from the Eastern Cape are packing their bags for Cuba. Provincial health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the 25 students, selected from disadvantaged communities across the province, would be given an official farewell. He said the provincial government had sent more than 80 young people to study medicine in Cuba since 1998. About half a dozen had qualified and were now working in the province. The new batch would spend five years studying in Cuba, with a special emphasis on primary health care, then do a sixth year at a South African university before undertaking their two-year internship and one-year community service. (News24.Com, 1/10/07)

October 12: More than 5,000 patients from 38 countries have received medical treatment in Cuba since September this year, at international clinics led by the government-run Cubanacan Tourism and Health Company. In statements to the press, Calixto Noche, commercial manager of the entity said that in addition to the services provided to tourists, another 1,700 people, including foreign residents in Cuba and members of diplomatic missions have been treated in the clinics located throughout the country. Calixto Noche said Cuba has contracts with nearly 40 countries, mostly in the American continent, except for the US and including the Caribbean and Europe. He mentioned Canada, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Mexico, Chile, Bahamas, Jamaica, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy and Spain have relations with the company Cubanacan Tourism and Health, which gave medical treatment to nearly 9,000 foreigners in 2006 in the specialties of orthopaedics, general surgery, aesthetics, cardiology and paediatrics, noted the expert. (ACN, 12/10/07)

December 31: In September 2000, 100 Nigerians left the country to study medicine in Cuba on the basis of South-South cooperation. Exactly seven years later, in September 2007, the doctors returned home, having completed their studies. One of them, Dr Chukwuemeka Nzelu, emerged as the overall best graduate in the school, while 32 others obtained high grades. Twenty-five of them are going back to Cuba for their post-graduate studies. According to Mr Elio Oliva, the Cuban Ambassador to Nigeria, more than 50,000 foreign students have graduated from Cuban educational institutions since then. The programme is funded 100 per cent by the Cuban government, while benefiting countries are responsible only for the upkeep allowances of their students. Oliva further explained that grants cover all expenses for a six-year university course apart from transportation to and from Cuba. (The Tide, 31/12/07)