60,000 Jamaicans received free eye-care

More than 60000 Jamaicans screened under eye care programme
by Douglas McIntosh, Jamaica Information Service Reporter, 12 May 2011.

More than 60,000 Jamaicans have been screened under the bi-lateral eye care programme, 'Miracle Operation', jointly administered locally by the Health Ministries of Jamaica and Cuba, since the initiative's establishment in 2005.

Cuban Ambassador to Jamaica, His Excellency Yuri Gala Lopez, says the benefits accruing have mainly been surgeries, of which just over 6,000 have been performed, free of charge, over the past six years, in Cuba and Jamaica.

Speaking at a special welcome reception at the Norman Manley International Airport, Kingston, last week for some 16 Cuban nurses recruited to work in the local public health system, Mr. Lopez said between 2010 and now, over 1,700 surgeries have been performed at the Jamaica/Cuba Eye Care Centre, located in Kingston.

From left: Nurse Lisbey Garcia Paz, Yaima Gonzales, third secretary of embassy of Cuba; Elys Maria Chapelin and Olivia Vazquoz at yesterday's welcoming ceremony for Cuban nurses at the Norman Manley International Airport. Gladstone Taylor/Photographer

"During 2010, the centre performed more than 1,200 surgeries on Jamaican patients, while in 2011 they have performed over 500 surgeries so far. I think this is a very important example of the South-South co-operation that Jamaica and Cuba have been enjoying over the years," he said. The bilateral partnership between Jamaica and Cuba has seen the former benefitting significantly from medical expertise and technical co-operation provided by the Spanish-speaking nation.

Currently, more than 130 health specialists are stationed across the Health Ministry's four regions, providing a range of services. The personnel include nurses who currently account for some 120 of the cadre. The latest batch of nurses is the second to be recruited since the start of the year, following 35 in January.

Ambassador Lopez said the arrival of the nurses "reaffirms the dynamism of that bi-lateral programme of co-operation, which allows the presence in Jamaica of more than 130 health specialists all across the island."

He disclosed that the Health Ministries of Jamaica and Cuba have also been having dialogue on the possibility of increasing the presence of Cuban biomedical personnel locally. He recounted that a contingent of Jamaican nurses visited Cuba in January, to participate in a training programme on nephrology.

"I think they have enjoyed their stay in Cuba, and that it was actually a very fruitful experience that we are looking forward to continue expanding, if possible. Let me stress that those bi-lateral programmes are contributing to strengthening, even more, the bonds between the peoples and governments of Jamaica and Cuba which, over the years, have been based on strong ties of friendship and co-operation," Ambassador Lopez said.


See also: 86 Jamaicans Leave for Eye Surgeries in Cuba Next Week, JIS, 15 February 2008.

Cuban nurses arrive in Jamaica

Source: Jamaica Gleaner, 14 January 2011.

In an attempt to stem the critical shortage of nurses in Jamaica, 35 nurses are now in the island from Cuba to begin working in the public health sector. According to the Ministry of Health, the nurses will be deployed to facilities across all four health regions. Health Minister Rudyard Spencer, in a release, said the batch of 35 represents a percentage of the total of 51 nurses who were recruited during a trip to Cuba by health ministry officials in June 2010.

Minister of Health Rudyard Spencer embraces Ana Iris, one of 35 Cuban nurses who arrived in the island Wednesday to take up various positions within the primary health care system, during a welcoming ceremony in the VIP Room at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.

The remaining number is expected to arrive in the island in about three months.

"The Government of Jamaica entered into a bilateral agreement with the government of Cuba to train and supply critical health workers for the local sector. We signed two agreements in July 2009, one which led to the development of the Eye Care Centre located at St Joseph's Hospital and the other which would see health specialists from Cuba supporting our public health-care system," Spencer said.

The 35 nurses include operating-theatre nurses, ophthalmology, pediatrics, neonatal, intensive care nurses and 15 to be deployed in primary health care. Spencer said that in going forward, the ministry was interested in attracting other health workers from Cuba, including physicians, biomedical engineers, biomedical technicians, other technicians such as a/c refrigeration and electro-mechanical, paramedicals, nurse educators, dental mechanical engineers and dental nurses.

The current bilateral agreement comes to an end in July 2011. According to the findings of a report published last year by the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean Region, at least three out of every four nurses trained in Jamaica have migrated to developed countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.

US discredited Jamaican-Cuba healthcare

WikiLeaks: US sought to discredit JA-Cuba eye care
Sources: Jamaica Observer and AP, 17 December 2010.


THE United States sought to discredit Cuban healthcare including eye care treatment given to Jamaican patients, which was criticised locally, revealed in leaked United States diplomatic cables obtained by the WikiLeaks website and published by The Guardian newspaper today [17 December 2010].

In the cables US diplomatic staff in Cuba are said to have looked for "human interest stories and other news that shatters the myth of Cuban medical prowess, which has become a key feature of the regime's foreign policy and its self-congratulatory propaganda."

Concerns expressed by Kingston Public Hospital [KPH] opthamologist, Dr Albert Lue, about the quality of treatment received by Jamaican patients in Cuba, were mentioned under the heading 'Medical Malpractice'.

"Dateline 31 May: Jamaican Dr. Albert Lue has publicly denounced Cuban medical incompetency in handling Jamaican patients who traveled to Cuba for eye surgery. Of 60 such patients he surveyed, 3 were left permanently blind and another 14 returned to Jamaica with permanent cornea damage," read a US cable addressed from the US Interests Section in Havana from 2006.

When contacted by the Observer this morning, Dr Lue was unable to comment since he was about to perform an operation at KPH.