admin
Herald Reporter
Cuba has 36 doctors operating in Zimbabwe on a government-to-government arrangement and the number is likely to increase in the near future, Cuban Ambassador to Zimbabwe Carmelina Ramirez Rodriguez has said.
Ambassador Rodriguez made these remarks while briefing journalists after meeting Acting President Kembo Mohadi at his Munhumutapa offices yesterday.
She said Harare and Havana enjoyed deep-rooted relations which dated back to Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle.
Said Ambassador Rodriguez: “Our relations date back to the 1970s when the liberation movement was training. We were talking about how to increase cooperation. We have cooperation in health and in education at the Bindura University of Science Education. We have some professors there and also our doctors are all around the country. Currently we have 36 doctors.”
Asked if there was a likelihood that Cuba could increase the number of its doctors in Zimbabwe, she said: “Of course, we have doctors everywhere in Africa, so we can see that our cooperation in health is very important to help Zimbabwe and support the people of this beautiful country.”
When she met Senate president Cde Mabel Chinomona last year, Ambassador Rodriguez called for stronger ties between Zimbabwe and Cuba.
“In light of the international politics we are currently experiencing, countries like Cuba and Zimbabwe have to cooperate and share ideas, including with other Third World countries,” she said.
“We have developed cooperation in many sectors, particularly in health and education, with a lot of Zimbabweans having studied in Cuba while a number of doctors from the health brigade have been to Zimbabwe,” she said.
Zimbabwe and Cuba shared a common history.
Both countries are reeling from the unjustified US sanctions which seek to influence global politics either through war or other punitive measures. As brotherly countries, several Zimbabwean doctors and other experts were trained in Cuba.
Online Reporter