‘Let them start to work, and you will see’

“Let’s see the doctors. Let them start to work and you will see what they are able to do,” said Cuban Ambassador Raul Rojas yesterday about the quality of 35 doctors coming to TT to alleviate the shortage in the public health sector. “As far as I know nobody has been questioning the quality of the doctors in Cuba and we have nothing to hide; we are very open. Everyone knows the quality of doctors in Cuba,” Rojas said yesterday following a courtesy visit with the Permanent Secretary in the Health Ministry. Special Temporary Licences will be given to the Cuban doctors to practise medicine in TT. Accompanying Rojas was Alberto Perez Sierra, the official coordinating arrangements for the Cuban doctors and nurses who will begin arriving on July 23. He had little to say as the Ambassador spoke to Newsday. Perez arrived yesterday morning and will be in TT “for a while” Rojas said. Legislation is now before Parliament to amend the Medical Board Act to establish a five-member panel appointed by the Health Minister to issue the licences. Newsday was reliably informed that the doctors will be employed by the Health Ministry in “special posts” and will not take positions in the Public Service or Regional Health Authority. These are for local doctors, the source said.

Rojas said Cuba is always trying to collaborate with other countries. It currently has ties with 60 territories, and approximately 6,000 Cuban medical personnel work abroad. “If you have any kind of doubt, the world organisation (WHO) can give you information. As far as I am concerned, we have more doctors that the same world organisation and I think they recognise.” Despite concerns about the doctors’ fluency in English, Rojas said Ministry officials went to interview the doctors “and they know if the people they have hired can speak English.” He assured that when patients are sick, the doctor would understand. Rojas said Cuban doctors have worked in the Cuban jungle where inhabitants spoke neither Spanish nor English but a dialect. He said they “did well.”  Doctors are not categorised as consultants, registrars and house officers in Cuba. Rojas said: “No seniors and juniors — we have no need for that kind of certification.” He said doctors studied for seven years then may spend three years or more specialising in a particular area of medicine. Asked about the state of the facilities’ readiness to accommodate the doctors and nurses, Rojas said, “I think they have to work on this. It is not easy and they need time.” He expected the facilities to be ready by the time they arrived.