Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has made it clear that Dominica will not move away from the Cuban Healthcare Program, as doing so will be disastrous for the country.
He made the remarks during a New Year’s sit-down interview with journalists on Thursday night.
The Cuban medical program has been heavily criticized and has faced recent scrutiny and allegations of forced labor, which led to investigations from the Organization of the American States (OAS) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Presently, the United States has taken steps to end the program, imposing visa bans on officials tied to that program. However, despite the criticism, Caribbean leaders have defended the program.
“If you move away from the Cuban Healthcare Program, it will be disastrous,” he said. “ I mean, 9 out of 11 medical and nursing practitioners at the ICU [Intensive Care Unit] are Cuban doctors.”
The prime minister acknowledged that Cuba has been a very steadfast partner to Dominica and stated that the partnership will continue, albeit with adjustments.
“Obviously, the United States has certain challenges and concerns with regards to the Cuban program. We’ve discussed it with them. We are also in discussions with the Cuban government, as well, on how we believe that we can better fashion the program to address whatever concerns anybody may have,” Skerrit revealed. “But we will certainly see in the foreseeable future the presence of Cuban-trained doctors and Cuban doctors in Dominica to provide care to us.”
He continued, “Obviously, quite possibly there might be a different configuration and structure, but in terms of having Cuban-trained doctors and Cuban doctors and nurses in Dominica, we just cannot do without it. And unless somebody can give us an alternative…”
Furthermore, Skerrit pointed out that historically, various countries provided Dominica with medical professionals, though things have changed over the recent decades.
“…So back in the eighties and the seventies and nineties, we got doctors from Nigeria…” he said. “But because you have the Nigerian doctors being recruited by the United Kingdom and the Middle Eastern countries, they are not really available to us anymore.”
“We had doctors from India as well…,” Skerrit explained. “ And so we continue to discuss, but certainly we will continue to benefit from the vast knowledge of the Cubans and the Cuban Healthcare System and education system in the foreseeable future.”
