The first group of 11 female nurses left Cuba on Friday for Trinidad and Tobago as part of the efforts in helping that Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19).
Coordinator of the group, Yaquelín Ramírez Díaz, said that the nurses will work with the professionalism that characterizes Cuban medicine, and will face the pandemic together with the health professionals in Port of Spain.
She said among the objectives of those who leave for this internationalist mission are to return to the country healthy and with their duties fulfilled, as well as to share with the people of Trinidad and Tobago their experiences in confronting the pandemic.
“It has always been this government’s policy, to seek Cuban professionals where there is a lack of that particular speciality in Trinidad and Tobago,” Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh said.
“As per COVID, we do have a cohort of intensive care nurses coming in. We signed off on that about three weeks ago.”
He said the nurses would be assigned to intensive care units under the direction of Dr Antony Parkinson of the North West Regional Health Authority. Dr Parkinson will be managing the intensive care unit response across Trinidad and Tobago.
So far, Cuba has deployed healthcare workers to Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica, among other countries.
