HAVANA (AP) – Cuba had to cover food and lodging expenses for dozens of its doctors fighting Ebola in Sierra Leone after the United States embargo delayed payments from the World Health Organisation (WHO), an official at the United Nations agency said.
U.S. officials as high as Secretary of State John Kerry have praised the Cuban effort against Ebola. But the longstanding embargo affects virtually all dealings with Cubans, even for banks outside the U.S., because they depend on dollar transfers through U.S. institutions.
Jose Luis Di Fabio, the health agency’s representative for Cuba, told The Associated Press it had to request special licenses from the U.S. Treasury Department to transfer money to the doctors in Africa.
The licenses were eventually granted and the government-employed doctors only recently received payments dating as far back as October, he said.
“The fact that they’re Cubans greatly limited the funds transfers and the payment,” Di Fabio said. “It’s not that the WHO didn’t want to pay, it’s that they weren’t able to.”
The U.S. State Department had no immediate comment yesterday. Cuban officials in Havana did not respond to requests seeking comment.
Cuba has sent 256 medical workers to Africa, with 165 in Sierra Leone and the rest in Guinea and Liberia. Cuban doctors generally receive salaries of about $70 a month, with some specialists earning more, but the Cubans in Africa are receiving $250 a day in direct payments from WHO that are meant to cover their food and lodging and provide a margin of extra compensation.