Cuban medics still to be licensed by new panel

The five member panel appointed by Health Minister Colm Imbert will conduct “one on one” interviews with Cuban doctors prior to issuing them with temporary licences to practise medicine in TT. The licence will be of two years duration. Amendments to the Medical Board Bill established the panel, which has been vested with the power to consider applications for temporary licences. A health official said the Cubans will be asked about the local health sector. Their licences “should be finalised by next week,” he said. The doctors, along with Cuban nurses, will be visiting their new work places next week in what is expected to be the final phase of their orientation before taking up duty. Since they arrived in TT on July 24, the 30 nurses and six doctors have been exposed to two weeks of orientation in English including TT colloquialisms. In the past week they met with heads of departments of health institutions and were yesterday informed about the legal framework which governs the health sector — the Medical Professions Act, the Nurses and Midwives Act, etc.

Another batch of medical professionals was due to arrive at 5 am yesterday aboard a BWIA flight from Havana. At least 27 of them will be doctors, a health official said yesterday. He said half of the group are specialists, among them a Professor of Ophthalmology and a clinician. The official expected local doctors to benefit from the Cubans’ work ethic, but he also said TT has “good doctors and nurses who can teach them something.” The new group will have three to four weeks of orientation like their colleagues.