Cuba’s Ambassador Says Her Country Is Happy To Help
By: , March 27, 2020
Photo: Michael Sloley
Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton (right), and Ambassador of Cuba to Jamaica, Her Excellency Inés Fors Fernández, shake hands after exchanging copies of a document renewing the Technical Cooperation Agreement with the Ministry of Public Health of the Republic of Cuba in February 25.
Photo: Michael Sloley and Adrian Walker
Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, welcoming the team of Cuban health professionals at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, which arrived in the island on March 21. (JIS Photo: Adrian Walker)
Photo: Michael Sloley and Adrian Walker
Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton (left), along with Cuban Ambassador to Jamaica, Her Excellency Ines Fors Fernandez (right) and National Coordinator Medical Brigade in Jamaica, Dr. José Armando Arronte Villamarin, await the arrival of a team of Cuban medical professionals at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston on March 21. (JIS Photo: Adrian Walker)The Full Story
Cuba’s Ambassador to Jamaica, Her Excellency Inés Fors Fernández, says her Government is happy to provide support to Jamaica in combatting the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
A total of 140 healthcare professionals, including 90 specialist nurses, arrived in the island on March 21 to bolster the country’s front-line staff.
They are among 434 Cuban healthcare personnel currently in Jamaica under a Technical Cooperation Agreement on health between the countries.
“The pandemic knows no border or ideologies, so that’s why our Cuban health professionals are working here. So when Jamaica called us we said ‘yes, we will be there’,” Ambassador Fernández told JIS News.
She noted that the health professionals, who are under quarantine for 14 days, have been familiarising themselves with Jamaica’s public health protocols.
All persons who enter the island from countries where there is a local transmission of the COVID-19 are required to immediately self-quarantine for 14 days.
Ambassador Fernández said that the professionals are also learning about Jamaica’s culture and history via the Internet, and have also been sharpening their knowledge of the English language, having received a donation of Spanish to English dictionaries.
“I think after these 14 days they will be much more knowledgeable about what they have to do,” she said.
Ambassador Fernández told JIS News that the Embassy has received an outpouring of support from Jamaicans through thank-you cards and messages.
“It has been amazing. We are not only good neighbours but we are like a family, but what I have seen these days, it has been amazing. The Jamaican people have been sending me a lot of messages saying, ‘thank you Cuba. Cuba we love you, thanks for your support’. It is amazing,” she said.