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News > Latin America

Cuban Doctors Arrive in South Africa to Revamp Healthcare

  • Cuban President Fidel Castro chats with President Nelson Mandela after addressing the South African Parliament on September 4, 1998.

    Cuban President Fidel Castro chats with President Nelson Mandela after addressing the South African Parliament on September 4, 1998. | Photo: Reuters

Published 29 May 2016
Opinion

The 22 doctors are the latest addition to 320 Cuban doctors already working in South Africa as part of a deal struck by Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela.

A new dispatch of Cuban doctors arrived in South Africa on Sunday, continuing a cooperation agreement signed by the two countries' former leaders Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela two decades ago.

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The 22 physicians, in addition to another 320 doctors now rendering their services in South Africa, will start working in Free State, south of Pretoria.

"They will help implement a public health system that is similar to the one we have in Cuba," Dr. Alberto Antonio Yanes, head of the Medical Mission in South Africa, told Prensa Latina.

Health authorities in the eight provinces — out of nine total — where Cuban doctors have been deployed are very interested in applying the experiences of our healthcare system, Dr. Yanes stressed.

Cuba's contribution has been important in fighting the scourge of infectious diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis in South Africa, he said.

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Those diseases are currently killing millions of people on the continent, as well as South Africa, Yanes noted.

The doctors that arrived Sunday are mostly specialists in family medicine, as well as in anesthesia, pediatrics, gynecology and psychiatry.

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