Fate of 92 Cuban Medical Professionals Working in Belize Expected by Month’s End
Minister of Health and Wellness Kevin Bernard says Belize currently has approximately 92 Cuban medical professionals working across the country, and a decision on whether they will remain is expected to be finalised by the end of this month.
Speaking on Open Your Eyes, Bernard said the professionals range from specialists to medical officers, technicians, radiologists, and rural nurses, spread across several regions.
“We currently have about, I think, about 92 Cuban professionals across the country. A couple of them, I believe, are working at KHMH. T hey are more the specialists that will work at the tertiary facilities. And then, of course, a lot of them are in the rural communities. That’s where the rural nurses are, and we have one psychiatrist that is on board with the Cuban brigade.”
Bernard said the impact of losing these professionals would be significant given Belize’s existing healthcare workforce shortage, a challenge he noted is not unique to Belize. “Let us not turn a blind eye to the fact that the health workforce is limited, not only in Belize. It’s limited across the globe, where smaller countries like ours are being poached by others on our trained professionals, and it’s happened not only in health… If they were to leave, or they were to exit, of course it would cause a strain on our already strained health system. We are really short of doctors and medical officers and nurses.”
He pointed specifically to Toledo District as an example of how dependent some regions are on Cuban staff. “I’ll give you Toledo, for example. Out of the 16 doctors that are there, 50% are Cubans. If you imagine pulling those out from our system, it will create a strain. We already have challenges getting doctors or locals to go and work in the south and these communities. So these people helped us to fill those gaps. Losing them would, of course, create a strain for us.”
Bernard said discussions on the matter, coordinated through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have been productive, though he noted he isn’t privy to every country-to-country conversation.
“There have been very fruitful discussions taking place. I’m not too privy with all the country-to-country discussions, but I can tell you that from the information we provided in terms of our input, our needs, where we have them spread out in terms of the country, where the gaps are going to be, especially in the south.”
“We are working in terms of the restructuring of that arrangement. We are hoping that by the end of this month we are able to finalise and settle this matter and move on from there.”