157 Cuban Doctors Return to Jamaica Under New Contracts

Jamaica has rehired 157 Cuban doctors under new contracts, seven months after the Jamaican government ended its medical cooperation programme with Cuba.

The returning medical professionals join 43 Cuban healthcare workers who remained in Jamaica after the previous arrangement ended, bringing the total up to 200.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said the government offered the workers the option of returning under direct contracts rather than continuing under the former bilateral programme.

“We basically gave them an offer. We said we can’t do the arrangement as was the case, but if you return and it’s your option, your choice, we would engage you in a direct contract,” Tufton said. He also thanked the professionals for returning, saying “the healthcare system needs them.”

Before the previous arrangement ended, approximately 277 Cuban doctors, nurses and other medical professionals were working in Jamaica. 

The Jamaican government announced in March that it would end the previous cooperation arrangement after negotiations with Cuba failed to produce an agreement on revised terms.

The disagreements included the handling of workers’ passports and salary payments, which were channelled through Cuban authorities rather than paid directly to the professionals.

Cuban medical professionals have supported Jamaica’s public health system for decades. Their work has included the Jamaica-Cuba Eye Care Programme, which has provided specialised eye-care services since 2010.

The return of the 157 professionals restores a substantial portion of the Cuban healthcare workforce that served in Jamaica before the programme ended.