Kingston, Jamaica – Jamaican American actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, has joined the conversation surrounding the discontinuation of the Cuban Medical Brigade programme.
“Will America now send the doctors so badly needed in Jamaica,” said Ralph in a post on social media in response to a Jamaica Gleaner news report.
The question followed an announcement by Minister of Foreign Affairs Kamina Johnson Smith that the longstanding programme would be discontinued.
She indicated that the decision had not been influenced by mounting pressure from the United States.
However, the Cuban government, in a statement on Friday, said the Jamaican government had capitulated to US pressure and has moved to withdraw its staff from the country.
Meanwhile, Opposition Spokesperson on Foreign and Regional Affairs, Senator Donna Scott-Mottley, is calling on the government to provide Jamaicans with a detailed explanation for its decision to terminate the medical cooperation arrangement with Cuba.
The programme has been an established part of Jamaica’s healthcare system for 50 years, with Cuban doctors and other medical professionals serving in hospitals and clinics across the island.
In a release on Saturday, Scott-Mottley said the sudden conclusion of the partnership raises serious questions that the government must address.
The government said it is making arrangements with other countries such as Ghana and the Philippines, to provide health services. (CMC)
