Port-au-Prince, March 15 (Prensa Latina) Cuban medical cooperation began in 1998 and today holds a very strong symbolic value in Haiti, highlights Le Nouvelliste, the most influential newspaper in the Caribbean country.
Cuban health personnel arrived here under President René Préval, at a time when Haiti was suffering damage from Hurricanes George and Mitch.
Cuba sent a medical brigade, medicines, and everything necessary to rescue the Haitian population, the source emphasized.
Former President Fidel Castro declared: “Haiti doesn’t need soldiers, it doesn’t need an invasion of soldiers; what Haiti needs is an invasion of doctors; what Haiti needs, in addition, is invasions of millions of dollars to develop,” the newspaper recalled.
The words of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution were described by the Haitian newspaper as a blow to the United States government.
In 2001, a collaboration began with the Faculty of Medicine created by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and Cuba sent professors who also worked as doctors serving the Haitian population.
In December 2002, more than 800 Haitian doctors were receiving training at the University of Medical Sciences in Santiago de Cuba.
Le Nouvelliste lamented that successive governments, with the help of the largest of the Antilles, have prevented Haiti from having a robust health system with qualified personnel well integrated into the care chain.
As of December 4, 2024, more than 15,000 Cuban volunteers have joined the Cuban Medical Brigade, providing more than 36 million consultations, 194,241 births, including nearly nine million pediatric births, and some 660,000 surgeries.
“Cuban experts rehabilitated more than 206,000 disabled patients and administered more than 1,649,000 doses of vaccines during prevention campaigns,” the news outlet noted.
Currently, the number of Cuban health professionals present in Haiti in 2025 does not exceed 200, including 77 doctors who practice primarily in the south of the country.
The U.S. government’s threats of sanctions against countries with Cuban medical personnel have reached Haiti just as Haitian medical training is going through a difficult period.
This situation in the health sector is due to the insecurity that led to the closure or malfunction of several training centers, including the State University Hospital of Haiti.
Next November, the newspaper reported, a meeting is planned in Cuba to sign an agreement between the State University of Haiti and the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana.
ft/joe
