This week, the Cuban ambassador announced that more than 100 health workers currently make up the contingent of the prestigious Cuban White Coat peaceful army that provides its services throughout The Gambia. The collaboration of the oldest Antillean archipelago with The Gambia in this vital sphere began in 1996, and since then, it has been maintained uninterruptedly.
Many Gambian doctors have also gained full scholarships to Cuba and have mainly specialised in Pediatric Surgery, Intensive Care Unit, and Gynaecology.
The two brotherly countries hope to increase the scholarship because there are many Gambian doctors who graduated and want to do their speciality in Cuba. The two countries have got into an agreement and are looking forward to signing a document with the Ministry of Higher Education.
After the 1959 Cuban Revolution, Cuba established a programme to send its medical personnel overseas, particularly to Latin America, Africa, and Oceania, and to bring medical students and patients to Cuba for training and treatment respectively. In 2007, Cuba had 42,000 workers in international collaborations in 103 countries, of whom more than 30,000 were health personnel, including at least 19,000 physicians.
Cuba provides more medical personnel to the developing world than all the G8 countries combined. The Cuban missions have had substantial positive local impacts on the populations served. It is widely believed that medical workers are a vital export commodity for Cuba.
In Banjul, since its creation in 1999, there is also the Faculty of Medicine and Related Sciences, where Cuban professors, together with other different nationalities, train young people to guarantee the main human right of the people to receive health care.