Haiti Thankful to Cuban Medical Cooperation

Haiti's Health minister Florence Duperval thanked Cuba for its assistance in the field of health care and the training of medical professionals.

During a session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Duperval described Cuba's assistance as unconditional, fraternal and an example of solidarity, PL news agency reported on Thursday.

The Haitian official stressed the support of the Cuban health professionals and their assistance of the victims of the 2010 earthquake that hit her nation and of those Haitian citizens that suffered from Cholera and other diseases.

Duperval also recalled the opening in her country of a community hospital, the Haitian Rehabilitation Institute and the National Prosthesis Workshop.

The first group of Cuban doctors arrived in Port-au-Prince on December 4 1998 as part of a brigade to assist victims of disasters, following the passage on the Caribbean area of hurricanes George and Mitch, said the director of foreign relations at the Cuban Health Ministry, Nestor Marimon.

The doctor recalled that when the 2010 quake occurred in Haiti, some 367 Cuban health professionals were already there and that figure increased to 1, 546. The official also said that 889 Haitian doctors have thus far graduated from Cuban medical schools.