The newly arrived professionals from the largest of the Antilles will provide assistance in different hospitals throughout The Gambia. The new batch of health professionals were received at the Banjul airport, by the Cuban ambassador, H.E. Rubén G. Abelenda, the head of the Medical Brigade, Dr. Juan Oquendo Montes, and other directors.
The move comes after days The Gambia and Cuba renewed the Health Agreement that they have maintained for almost three decades, signed by the minister of Health, Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh and the Caribbean diplomat.
At the event, both Samateh and Abelenda expressed satisfaction with the update of the Agreement and agreed that its signature evidences the positive relations between their respective governments and peoples, united by their history, roots, culture and a friendship based on respect and mutual solidarity.
It would be recalled that the collaboration between the two countries dates back to June 1996, when a total of 38 medical workers arrived in The Gambia in the form of Technical Assistance.
Starting in 1999, they implemented the Comprehensive Health Program, which made The Gambia one of the first in Africa to materialise this experience with the presence of more than 150 collaborators.
Currently more than 100 specialised doctors, graduates and technicians from the largest Antillean archipelago provide humanitarian services in Gambia. Also, since 1999, professors from the island have taught classes at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Banjul, created at the initiative of the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.
