Pages

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Mpumalanga and Cuba commit to continue working together on areas of cooperation

Mpumalanga and Cuba commit to continue working together on areas of cooperation

Both the Mpumalanga Provincial Government and Cuba have committed to continue working together, as per the original arrangement of cooperation entered into by the national governments on the recruitment of medical doctors from Cuba as well as sending students on the Cuban medical programe.

The commitment was done verbally on Friday when Mpumalanga Acting Premier Vusi Shongwe received a courtesy call from the Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba Carlos Fernandez de Cossion at the Government Complex in Mbombela.

According to the agreement signed in May 2012 by the ministers of health from both countries on the cooperation in the field of public health and medical sciences, the Cuban health professionals have been in the country including Mpumalanga, to provide health services to rural and other disadvantaged communities.

They had been assisting in the provision of adequate health services in hospitals, clinics, community health centres and in other institutions throughout the province.

During the deliberations on Friday, it transpired that to date, 37 students from Mpumalanga province have qualified as doctors in Cuba since the cooperation commenced. Currently there are 157 students from Mpumalanga province who are still studying medicine in Cuba. Again by the end of October this year, Mpumalanga Province will send another 100 students to train as doctors in Cuba.

The Mpumalanga Department of Health currently has 25 Cuban doctors under its employ, 22 more doctors will be coming to work in Mpumalanga by the end of December this year, and have already been allocated the hospitals they would work in.

The Acting Premier Shongwe said the arrival of the Cuban health professionals had made it possible for the provincial government to be able to render quality health services especially in the rural areas where it had always been difficult to recruit local doctors.

“Our country has enjoyed a special and long standing relationship with the Republic of Cuba. As a province of Mpumalanga, we feel that we are indebted to the Cuban people as our friends, brothers, comrades and liberators, for their selflessness they had always displayed on us,” said Shongwe.

Meanwhile, the Cuban Ambassador said the relationship between the two countries had a potential to improve as they had continued to practice solidarity to each other especially on political matters.

“We are very happy with the relationship between South Africa and especially Mpumalanga. Our doctors are here to help and will continue to contribute positively and touch the lives of thousands of people in this province. We do not have any hidden agenda, but we are here to deliver a service,” he said.


He explained that the nature of the relationship needed continuous and physical engagement with the provinces.

No comments:

Post a Comment