A team of doctors in rare specialties from Cuba will arrive in the Kingdom after the Eid holidays to man some of the public sector hospitals, a senior official from the Ministry of Health announced here yesterday.
“The first group of 30 doctors will work for a period of three months only,” Dr. Aqeel Al-Ghamdi, assistant undersecretary to the Ministry of Health for therapeutic medicine and hospitals, said, adding that the contract will span a period of three years.
The agreement for the deployment of doctors was signed last month in Riyadh between the two governments. The accord was inked by Dr. Mohammed Hamza Kosheim, deputy health minister for Planning and Development, and Cuban Ambassador Enrique Anriquet.
Al-Ghamdi said the first group of doctors will include 12 rare and specialized cadres, including the intensive care unit (ICU), anesthesia, surgery, neurosurgery, retina, and newborns, he added. They will conduct tests on patients, follow up on their cases, review work procedures, as well as engage in training and education, he noted.
The official said that under the agreement, 30 doctors would arrive from Cuba every three months and those who have already completed their three-month period will return to their country. He also pointed out that the program for visiting doctors is currently operating with a number of countries, including Pakistan, Egypt, the United States and European countries.
Mohammed Kosheim said the doctors will be affiliated with a special program entitled the “Visiting Doctors” program, which has been tailored to meet the ministry’s requirements designed to attract the best consultants in in-demand and rare specialties, he said.
Cuban Ambassador Anriquet said that Saudi-Cuban relations have seen significant progress in the recent years. “This agreement comes at the forefront of constructive cooperation between the two countries, which will be to provide our experience and our efforts in the field of health. We seek to contribute to strengthening and improving healthcare in hospitals and health centers in the Kingdom.”
The envoy said doctors, consultants and specialists in nursing have been carefully selected and are of high quality and that they speak fluent English.
The Cuban health care system is respected around the world and is decades ahead of any other system found in Latin America. For this reason, the Cuban system serves as a model for Third World developing nations.
Cuba has made excellent progress through its family doctor program. Small towns all have doctors on site that town residents can visit for free. Cuba now has one doctor for every 200 citizens, compared to one per 400 in the US. The doctors live in the same buildings as their offices and keep track of patient history.
Cuba stands out statistically as well. Its infant mortality rate of 8 per 1,000 is second to none in Latin America and nears that of the United States. The life expectancy of the average Cuban is also far longer than that of people in any other Latin American country.
Cuba has an excellent medical education program. It has 21 medical schools, which produce a graduating class of 4,000 doctors annually. Education is free. Before it lost Soviet aid, Cuba trained 20,000 students from Third World countries and required them to return to their own countries, where doctors are far more needed than in countries where they can command large salaries.
Doctors from Cuba are also sent to assist in poorer nations. Cuba has sent its doctors to many African nations and has established hospitals in other countries.
Team of specialized Cuban doctors arriving to man hospitals
