French Guiana Interested in Cuban Medical Collaborators

Alexandre, in statements quoted on Thursday by local press, said that ‘there is truly an emergency in Guyana’, and recalled that the population is unanimous in its protest against the lack of doctors the community is suffering.

The President, to counteract this situation, was in favor of having ‘a hundred Cuban medical specialists in hospitals’, particularly Dentistry, Oncology, Pneumology, among others.

Alexandre met on Wednesday in Havana with Cuban Deputy Public Health Minister Marcia Cobas, and Cuba’s ambassador to France Elio Rodriguez, to express his interest.

He also expects to travel to Cuba soon to continue the talks on the subject.

The French press stated that ‘if the project becomes a reality, it would be a first in French territory.’

As of a January 26, 2005 decree, Guiana is the only French territory authorized to hire medical personnel outside the European Union.

Cuban doctors have worked for decades in dozens of countries around the world, a task that has been widely recognized internationally.